Night Walkers
by Halebxxx
Summary: The faint puff of smoke that loitered in the black sky and the smell of cigarettes that lingered in the air whenever she cracked her bedroom window open- she knew it was him. Au Haleb. Xxx.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so this is my new story and I'm so excited to post it! It's gonna be about 10 chapters long and does kind of get off to a slow start but I'm hoping you'll like it. It's au and set before season 1 so before Hanna becomes the it girl, when she's still trying to figure out where she belongs (which I will delve a little deeper in future chapters) but for now it's just her meeting Caleb and getting to know each other a little. Enjoy xxx.**

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Night Walkers 

Just a couple kids on a summer street...

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Hanna Marin let out a long sigh as she flopped back onto her bed, her hand shoving away the magazine she was half way through reading before she closed her eyes and pursed her lips.

Silence.

It was all she could hear and she hated it. Only a month ago her house was happy and full of life but

now the only sound was the low, indistinguishable voices of whatever movie her Mom was curled up on the sofa half watching, half crying to.

She let out another huff, rubbing her eyes as she glanced at the clock and saw it was 11:52. She was no where near tired enough to go to sleep so she made a quick decision and stood up, grabbing a jacket from her closet before making her way down the stairs.

The only light across the whole bottom floor came from the lamp that was sat on the table next to where her Mom was fast asleep, the credits of a film rolling across the tv screen.

A small stabbing pain settled in her chest as she took in her Mothers tired face, the dark shadows from lack of sleep and make up stained tears. She hated the silence the same way she hated seeing her Mom so broken, the same way she hated all the arguing that had come before. Sometimes though, she wondered if the shouting was better. At least then she knew she had a family and wasn't left to loose herself in her own thoughts every night.

Cool air hit her as she cracked open the front door and exited the house with a sigh of relief. For the past few weeks it had felt like the silence was circling her like the heat from the warm summer days, closing in and slowly squeezing the life out of her as she had to face up to the reality of the situation and accept what she had lost.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she started walking down the street, her eyes relaxing as she took in the quiet humming of the nocturnal birds before a familiar shadow caught her attention she she frowned. There he was again, sat on a curb at the end of her block with his dark jacket and dark choppy hair.

She had never noticed him properly before. That was until she walked straight into him in the hallway one afternoon, sending her books flying and him bending down to pick them up. And as he stood back up their eyes met and her breath caught in her throat; she had never seen a more beautiful pair of eyes before. Never seen a pair so dark, so velvet, so warm and yet stark cold at the same time.

"Watch where you're going." Was all he mumbled before he shoved the books back into her hands and stalked off down the hall.

It hadn't taken her that long to find out who he was and what his deal was. Caleb Rivers had moved to the school a little under two months ago, word was that he was in foster care, smoked cigarettes and had spent nine months in juvie.

What spiked her curiosity the most though, wasn't his criminal past or his rebellious behaviour but that at around midnight- every night- she saw his shadow strolling past her house and down the street. She didn't know where he lived or why he never seemed to go home or why he took the same route every night but before she knew it she was stood next to him. "Hi."

His eyes rolled as he turned his head to look up at her before his face softened slightly from the hard expression it had held before. "Hi." A thin line of smoke left his lips as he spoke. She gave him a short smile back as she watched him bring a cigarette to his lips and take a long drag before he stared back up at her. "Do you want to sit down or something?"

"Umm, okay." She mumbled, biting down on her bottom lip as she perched on the pavement next to him. "You go to Rosewood High, don't you?" She brought her knees up to her chest as she silently kicked herself for sounding too much like a stalker.

"Doesn't everyone in this town?" He shrugged, flicking off the burnt end of his cigarette before he brought it to his mouth again.

"I've just- I've seen you around." She nodded awkwardly, keeping her eyes ahead before she shifted her gaze to him and lost control of her mouth. "Why do you walk around every night? You always pass my house and... don't you ever go home?"

He let out a long sigh before stubbing out his cigarette on the floor and shaking his head. "Why are you here?" He asked as his reply.

Hanna frowned and looked down at her feet. "I just needed to get some fresh air, clear my head. My house is so quiet now and I don't really like it."

"Why's it quiet?"

"My Dad left my Mom a few weeks ago, he's still not moved all his stuff out yet but he's gone." She sighed, blinking away the tears that clouded her eyes as she told a stranger exactly what was keeping her up at night. "You still haven't answered my question." She looked up at him again.

"I don't like my house either," He said simply, sympathising with her slightly. "My foster Moms always there and..." He trailed off again, leaning back on his hands as he looked up at the sky littered in stars. "It's better out here."

He turned to look at her at the end and she gave him a small smile in return. She had always wondered about this weird boy, who everyone seemed to avoid once the rumours about his time in juvie got out- although no one actually knew what he'd done. Maybe that's what scared them more about him but she wasn't scared. She was curios and she knew he couldn't have done anything that bad or else he'd still be in prison. He was just... misunderstood. "Do you just sit out here all night then?" Hanna asked inquisitively.

"Sometimes I sleep at the house," He shrugged. "And sometimes I just go back in the morning to get my stuff."

Hanna nodded, focusing on the rows and rows of huge houses opposite, much like her own. Her eyes hooded over slightly as she let the dark sky soothe her.

A car driving past honked at them and both their heads shot up in time to see that it was full of rowdy teenagers, music blaring out the car stereo. "There's a party on one of these streets," Caleb murmured as he pulled out another cigarette. "You not going to it?"

Hanna shook her head as she watch him with intrigue. "I wasn't invited." She mumbled.

"Aren't you one of the pretty girls that gets invited to everything?" He frowned, cupping the end of his cigarette as he tried to light it in the summer time breeze.

A small smile graced her lips as she looked down in embarrassment and tucked a price of hair behind her ear before she told herself to calm down. All he'd done was call her pretty. "Um no, I'm not really that popular." Her embarrassment was over powered by her insecurities for a few seconds as she thought about where she stood in the schools social hierarchy that her and Mona were slowly trying to clamber up.

"So you're one of those pretty girls who wants to be popular." Caleb had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he noticed how uptight her shoulders had become as they talked about popularity. "Well you can be a loner like me." He shrugged, shooting her a grin as he stood to his feet. "Let's go for a walk."

She didn't question him as she stood up and followed, tucking her hands back in her pockets as she took in his words fully. "I'm not a loner," She frowned at him. "I have lots of friends and a best friend."

"Lucky you." Caleb smirked back at her over his shoulder as she let him take a few steps ahead. Smoke billowed from from his lips as he walked, his body barley visible in the dark as his khaki green jacket and tatty grey jeans hung from his body.

"So where did you move here from?" She asked, trying to make conversation as she sped up a little to catch up with him.

"Lots of places."

"Well, where was the last place you stayed before here?" She asked him again as they headed down another street.

"Ravenswood." He answered statically.

"Oh," She nodded. "I've never been there." He didn't say anything after that and they slipped into silence as they carried on walking side by side as his cigarette slowly burnt out. "Why do you smoke?" Hanna let her lips take over again as she thought out loud, quickly trying to back her nosiness up with a reason. "It's bad for you."

"I know," A small smile crept onto his lips as he kept his eyes straight ahead. "I had a friend," He began. "He was more like a brother but he smoked since he was thirteen," His eyes clouded over with sadness as he paused his sentence and dropped his head. "He died but the smell of the cigs reminds me of him, I guess." He had never really had to justify why he smoked to himself or another person before but he felt sense of relief as he finally got to voice the reason behind his bad habit.

"I'm sorry," Hanna offered him a small smile before she too felt a wave of sadness over take her. "My friend died too," She bit her lip. "She was murdered and buried in her own backyard." It was as though this Caleb guy had cast a spell on her that made her ability to think before she spoke disappear as she told him all about Alison DiLaurentis.

"Who killed her?" Caleb asked.

"My other friends sisters boyfriend, they had some stupid fling as she was threatening to tell everyone about it so he murdered her." It felt like a weight has been lifted off her chest as she spoke about it for the first time to someone other than the people involved. "How did your friend die?" She asked him, hesitating slightly, as he turned his head away from her.

"Nothing to do with you." He sucked a deep breath in as his eyes settled into a glare and stalked ahead of her.

Hanna blinked, knowing she'd gone too far with her last question. His wound was clearly more open than the one she had for Alison and he obviously didn't go around chatting away his business to complete strangers like she did. She was an idiot who had been talking to a guy for less than an hour before she annoyed him.

She pulled out her phone from her back pocket and checked the time, using the fact that it was past midnight as an excuse for leaving. "I'm gonna head home now," She mumbled, not wanting to disrupt his walk anymore. She had only intended to walk around the block anyway and knew she had to get back before her Mom woke up and started to panic.

There was silence as she turned around, not expecting him to reply to her as she started walking back until his deep voice caught up with her. "I'll walk you home."

They carried on walking side by side yet again as a light midnight drizzle started to pour causing both Hanna and Caleb to tug up their hoods as clouds covered the clear sky.

"How come you came to talk to me?" Caleb asked suddenly as he watched the blonde haired girl out of the corner of his eyes.

"Um.." She trailed off with a shrug as she tried to figure out why herself. She hadn't really thought about it, just walked straight up to him and started a conversation. "I don't really know." She frowned before she took in the small grin on his face and relaxed hers into a smile too. "I guess I just wanted to know why you're always out at nighttime."

"Everything's better at night." He said simply. His brown eyes shinning as the glare from a dimly lit street lamp shone down on them.

"Why?" She took in his face again, his tanned skin and the long thick hair that was sticking out from under his hood.

"Less people." He shrugged and she accepted his answer with a nod. He felt slightly guilty for being so harsh on her before; in the two months he'd been in this town she was the first person to make an effort to come and speak to him, to smile at him and simply say hi, even if it did delve a little deeper than he'd have liked.

"This is me." Her voice interrupted his thoughts as she pushed open the white fence at the front of her house. "Thanks for walking me home."

"Anytime." He shot her a smirk as she took a few steps down her path, sending him a small smile over her shoulder. There was something about her he liked. He didn't know what it was but it left him wanting to know more about the small blonde that had walked with him for a while. "Wait, what's your name?"

"Hanna." She replied, turning around on her porch as he stood at the end of her path.

"Hanna." He nodded, smiling to himself. "I'm-"

"Caleb." She answered for him and laughed as he looked at her slightly confused. "I told you, I've seen you around school." She rolled her eyes at him.

He shot her a smirk and stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jeans as she reached for the door handle to let herself inside. "So, same time tomorrow night?" His teasing voice called as more of a statement than a question. "I'll pick you up." Before she had the chance to reply though, he was gone. Walking back off into the dark sky and leaving her to settle into bed with something new to think about before she drifted off to sleep.

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 **Soooooo? Tell me what you thought and if you liked, I promise it'll pick up next chapter but I needed to set the scene and figure things out between these two. I also have some songs that I think fit really well with this chapter so have a listen if you like xxx.**

Last Young Renegade - All Time Low

Teenage Satellites - Blink-182

Stay Awake (Dreams Only Last For a Night) - All Time Low


	2. Chapter 2

Throwing Rocks at Your Window at Midnight...

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If she thought he was joking when he said same time tomorrow then she was wrong. At midnight exactly a small tap on her window startled her as she was about to dive under the covers of her bed and brought her attention to the teenage boy stood outside her house with a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth.

"Caleb," Hanna whispered as she stuck her head out the window, looking down at him as he stood in the middle of her Mother's rose bushes with a stone in his hand. "You could've broken the window."

"I didn't though." He shrugged, taking a long drag before he blew out the smoke and looked back up at her. "You coming or not?

She huffed and looked down at the pink and blue pyjama shorts she was wearing before she bit her lip. "I'm in my pjs."

Caleb just shrugged again as he tugged the grey beanie he was wearing further down his head. "Change or stay in them, I don't care."

She rolled her eyes at him and bit her lip. "I'll be like five minutes, stay there." Was all she said before she closed the window and shed out of her pyjamas, throwing on the clothes she had been wearing earlier in the day before she crept down the stairs and past her mother- who had once again fallen asleep on the sofa.

Caleb watched her front door open and a strip of light escape through the gap as Hanna left the house and her gaze met his. She smiled briefly before they were both walking down the path to the street. "How come you were in your pyjamas?" Caleb asked, his voice mumbled from the cigarette he was smoking.

"Umm because it's midnight, you know the time normal people go to sleep." She rolled her eyes at him.

"I said I'd pick you up." He shrugged, his lips curving up at the corners. "You should have stayed in those tiny shorts anyway."

Hanna's eyes widened in shock as she tried to cover the blush that spread across her cheeks with her hair. "You were watching me." She mumbled, hesitantly looking up to meet his eyes- a teasing smile spread across his face as he noticed her pink cheeks. "Perv."

He let out chuckled and took another drag as they turned a corner and headed down another street that looked exactly the same as the last one. His head shook slightly as he watched her hide her face from him, he'd rather be able to see her pretty blue eyes.

They settled into silence as they walked, concentrating all their attention on the clear sky above as the tiny stars flashed above before Hanna let out a deep sigh. "You smoke a lot." She looked across at him.

"Told you, I like the smell." He muttered. "It me reminds me-"

"Of your friend." She finished for him with a gentle smile. "I remember." Her smile faltered though as she bit her lip. "How long ago did he die?" She asked, instantly expecting him to shut down again but instead he just copied her sigh and took one long drag before answering.

"A year." He tossed the burnt out cigarette to the ground.

"My friend died eight months ago." She nodded. "Sometimes I wake up and forget and think that I'll be seeing all the girls when I get to school."

Caleb didn't reply; he couldn't agree with her on that one. It was always at the back of his thoughts. "So what happened to all these girls then?" He asked. "I've only ever seen you with one dark haired girl before."

"Mona," Hanna nodded, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. It was early summer and yet as soon as the sun set on Rosewood the temperature dropped making the soft breeze chilly. "She's my best friend but before Alison died there was a group of us."

She thought back to the times when Ali walked the school hallways as queen bee. She could only dream of doing the same one day, of having everyone focus their attention on her as she strolled down the corridors chattering to her friends, dressed in the clothes she loved as she confidently flirted with the boys- just like they liked. "We all kind of separated after she died." She was brought straight back down to reality as she let out a sigh.

"Why?" Caleb probed as he focused his attention on the small blonde beside him.

"I don't really know." She muttered, frowning to herself. "Aria moved to Iceland with her family a few months after it happened, I guess Ali was holding us all together and when she died we just drifted apart. I think we wanted different things."

"Like what?" He asked again.

"Well you can't really be friends with someone if you're focused on different things- it wouldn't make sense."

"Why wouldn't it?" Caleb argued. "I'm pretty sure we want different things."

Hanna bit her lip to hold in a smile at that. So they were friends. She'd never intended to become friends with him when she went up to talk to him the previous night, all she wanted to know was why he never seemed to go home and now it seemed that they were making their midnight walks a regular thing. She caught herself though as a smile crept onto her lips- she'd only known him two days, she was getting ahead of herself.

"I don't know what I want." She shrugged. "Right now I just want to be a normal teenager and be invited to parties and get drunk with my friends."

"High school parties are shit." Caleb raised an eyebrow at her.

"How do you spend your Saturday nights then? Sat in a graveyard smoking a bong with your bong dealer who's a thirty-year-old bearded that still lives with his Mom." She turned to look at him.

"Oh yeah, every Saturday like clockwork. He's called Bill the bong dealer and he lives with his Mom and seven cats." She blinked twice and was surprised when she noticed his lips curve up into a smirk before he started to chuckle. It was deep and rough and she wanted to hear more.

"Sorry," She laughed too, looking down as they walked in darkness.

"It was funny," He smiled at her.

"So I didn't offend you?" She asked, slightly nervous.

"No," He shook his head. "But should speak your mind more often." Their eyes met for a few seconds, blue meeting brown before she gave him another small smile.

He pulled his gaze away from her, letting out a sigh as he reached into his pocket and pulled out another cigarette. Hanna watched him intently as his face glowed with the flash of the lighter, the shadow highlighting his sharp cheek bones and dark, velvety eyes before her's dropped down to the way his lips curved around the cigarette as he breathed it all in.

"You done?"

"Huh?" She blinked, not registering what he'd said as she pull her eyes away from his lips.

"You done staring at me?" He asked, the trace of a tiny smirk lingering on his lips as a thin line of smoke left them.

"Oh, I- sorry." A blush spread across her cheek as he let out a chuckle at her embarrassment and moved to sit down on a bench they had come to.

"It's fine." He smirked as he stretched his legs out and she sat down next to him, just watching as he breathed out puffs of smoke until he stubbed it out on the edge of the bench.

Hanna brought her knees to her chest again to keep her warm as she closed her eyes contently and breathed in the air through her nose. Despite the lingering smell of cigarette smoke the air felt so much more clearer than in the day. She was starting to see what he meant when he said it was better at night.

Although, as she looked out across the street, the dim light from the houses blurring in her tired vision, she couldn't imagine staying out all night. She liked her room and her cosy bed and climbing over the covers and forgetting everything as she drifted off and let her dreams take her wherever her mind wanted to go. "Why don't you ever go home?"

Her voice was soft as she turned back to Caleb who just rolled his eyes and kept looking ahead. "I told you, I don't like it."

"Why though?" She asked again. "It can't be that bad- they don't let anyone foster kids do they? There has to be checks, right?"

He just scoffed and shook his head, his eyes dropping. "They're so sick of me they'll just hand me off to anyone." The bitter words fell from his lips. "She's an alcoholic and she just drinks all the time, I can't stand it there."

"Can you not ask to be moved somewhere nicer?" She shrugged.

"Nicer?" He let out a bitter laugh. "Janet's not even that bad, there's a lot worse people that they let foster kids."

"Like what?" She watched as his eyes closed, his head shaking before he slumped further down into the wooden back of the bench.

"Abusive dickheads." He grumbled roughly, bringing their conversation to a stop.

Hanna sighed, she didn't like it when he shut her out, it was totally normal- he'd only known her two days and probably didn't want to tell her all the dark details about his life but still, everything seemed to be fine until they reached a certain point and he just closed himself off.

Caleb looked across at her, taking in the way she curled her body up and as far away as possible from him. He bit his lip and rolled his eyes at himself for being so harsh with her, she hadn't done anything wrong. "Has your dad moved out yet?"

"No," She shook her head. "He must be staying in a hotel or whichever one of his secretaries he's sleeping with right now." Her eyes rolled as she tried to blink away the tears that had formed in them. She hated wasting her tears on her father. "God," She ran a hand through her hair, she was still getting used to the fact that her parents had split up. "He's like a forty-year-old fuck boy."

Caleb let out a chuckle at that and shook his head, quickly quieting though when he noticed Hanna rubbing her eyes. "Sorry," He looked down.

"It's okay," She sniffled before she bit her lip and let out a guilty laugh too.

"I wasn't laughing at your dad I was-"

"No, I get it." Hanna shot him a smile. She knew he wasn't laughing at her messed up family- it was her speaking her mind that had made him laugh and she felt a sense of relief from it.

Caleb gave her an encouraging smile back as she avoided his gaze. "Your allowed to laugh Hanna, it's probably the only thing that'll make you feel better about the whole situation."

He was right; she'd rather laugh then cry. "Even if it's about my parents?"

"Especially if it's about your parents." He sank back into the bench again. "Parents are just.. dicks." He couldn't think of anything else to describe it.

"Not all parents are," Hanna murmured as she thought back to the woman who was probably still lay fast asleep on the sofa covered in tissues. "My Moms had a really hard time since she found out my Dad cheated. I hate to see her so upset and crying all the time."

"How many times did he cheat on her?" It was probably the last thing Hanna wanted to talk about but he asked anyway, his eyes meeting hers as she looked down.

"For the past five years." She mumbled. "They went through a rough patch when I was a kid and they argued all the time and then one day I just woke up and everyone was in a happier mood, especially my dad." Water filled her pupils again. "Now I know that it was because he started sleeping with other women."

"That's shit," Caleb looked across at her and gave her what he hoped was a comforting smile. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, he's gone now and me and my mum are better on our own, I just wish he'd moved his stuff out sooner- he's drawing it out and hoping that my Mom takes him back."

"Do you think she will?"

"No way, he's hurt us too much all for his own pleasure." Hanna shook her head, her eyes closing as she breathed in the cool air and took a deep breath.

"See parents are just dicks, they're so fucking selfish." Caleb grumbled. "They think they can bring a kid into the world and then blame us for their mistakes when we didn't even ask to be born, we didn't ask to exist."

Hanna let his words sink in as she realised how truthful they were. No one actually had a choice of whether they were created or not, it was their parents so technically- even if they intended to have a baby or not- everything was their fault. She looked across at Caleb to find him lighting up get again. "Did you know your real parents?"

"I knew them," He nodded taking a puff as he held it between his index finger and thumb. "I just don't remember much about them."

"Do you know what happened? Why they put you in foster care?" She pried into his life a little more.

"I think my dad must have left when I was a baby because I have no memory of him at all and then I guess my mom couldn't cope so she gave me up when I was five."

"So you've been in foster care your whole life nearly?" She raised an eyebrow as she watched him nod, his eyes never lifting from the ground and his took drag after drag, willing himself not to let his emotions get the better of him.

He's managed to block it all out for so long but there was something about the small blonde sat beside him that made everything feel so real again. She made him feel real again. Maybe it was the months of living in the shadows and getting by without anyone noticing him or giving him more than a second glance.

He never meant for their conversation to get this deep into both their lives but with Hanna he couldn't help it. It was like they just got each other, they had a mutual agreement and could understand how the other was feeling in an instant. Maybe that was why he was so drawn to her. Why he didn't push her away as he pushed everyone else in his life. Although she hadn't got as close as others had yet.

"It's getting late," Hanna's voice broke him from his thoughts as she looks at the time on her phone and dropped his burned out cigarette to the ground. "It's almost two, I should head back home."

He nodded and stood up, not saying anything as they set off walking her back to her house. They just enjoyed the comfortable silence, taking in the moon and everything they had found out about each other until they arrived at Hanna's front gate.

"Thanks for walking me home again," She smiled at him, giving him an awkward nod.

"No problem." He smiled back briefly before turning around, and beginning to walk away.

"Same time tomorrow?" Hanna's voice called out as she bite her lip, not wanting to wake any neighbours.

Caleb sent her a smirk over his shoulder as his body disappeared into the dark night. "I'll be waiting."

Hanna nodded contently, releasing her bottom lip from between her teeth as she quickly headed inside and closed the front door as quietly as possible. She was about to head up the stairs when she caught sight of the dim glow from the living room and her Moms auburn hair spread across arm of the sofa.

She sighed, thinking about what Caleb had said about his parents and how all parents were selfish. Maybe they were but she knew that her Mom loved her with all her heart and it killed part of her inside seeing the person who cares for her so broken.

She kicked her shoes off, flicking off the lamp whilst she grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa and lay it over her Moms sleeping body. Then she curled into her side and closing her eyes too, taking a deep breath and letting herself finally drift to sleep, thoughts of Caleb taking over her tired brain.

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 **So let me know what you thought? Do you like this darker mysterious Caleb? What do you want to see from Haleb in future chapters? Let me know in the review xxxx**

Wrapped Around Your Finger - 5 Seconds of Summer


	3. Chapter 3

3.

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You say you wanna chase the moon like fire...

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All Hanna could do was roll her eyes as she threw her phone back into her bad. If she didn't roll them they'd fill with tears, and that was the last thing she wanted as she stood in front of her locker, waiting for the bell to ring for second period.

She bit her lip, a long sigh leaving her nose as she watched her best friend approaching, her heals clicking on the hard floor and her tote bag sat on her arm as she raised an eyebrow curiously. "Why do you look like someone just told you you're gonna die a virgin?"

"My dad," She replied, taking a deep breath as she tried to control her emotions in front of Mona. "He said he'd call me but I haven't spoke to him since he left."

"You call him then." Mona answered like it was obvious.

"It's not as easy as that." Hanna muttered, keeping her gaze low.

"Why not? You know how to make a phone call, right?" A sarcastic smile spread across her glossed lips.

"It's up to him, I don't know where he is or what he's doing but he knows exactly where to find me." She turned back into her locker to grab some books and check her make up in the mirror. "And it's not like he's avoiding my Mom, he knows what time she works till and what time I get home from school. He's just a dick." She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she turned around and her eyes met with the very person she'd just unconsciously quoted.

His dark- almost black- eyes bore into hers as she stared straight at him. His face was flat and emotionless until she blinked, the corners of her lips rising slightly as a smirk tugged at his lips.

"Eww, why is _he_ staring at you?" Mona rolled her eyes in disgust as Hanna's thoughts were pulled away from Caleb's face and she looked back at her best friend. "Don't go there Han, he might be some kind of weird God-freak in the bedroom but it's not worth becoming a stoner for."

Hanna just looked at the brunette, unable to come up with any kind of response to that. "I have no idea what you just said." She chuckled, before turning back to Caleb who was already half way down the corridor now. "Why is he following a cop?" She frowned, her eyes scanning over the Principle, Police man and two women that Caleb was trailing behind, his black hoodie pulled up over his long hair.

People were staring as he passed them, his tatty jeans and worn out boots catching her eye as he was lead into an office and the principle closed the door behind him. "They're probably doing checks on him or something, he was only released from juvie three months ago."

"How do you know that?" Hanna asked as the bell rang and they set off to next lesson.

A smirk spread across Mona's face. "Working in the office has its perks." She raised an eyebrow playfully. "I know everything."

"So why did he go to juvie?"

"Except that." Mona pouted. "I can find out if you want? Although I do not understand this sudden interest in Caleb Rivers, you've barley noticed him since today."

"I'm just curious." Her shoulders raised defensively. "Nothing wrong with that."

"I thought you were after Sean, you've had a crush on him since before Alison died." Mona looked at her. "And you never would have had a chance with him when she was trapping every boy between her legs, but now she's gone your the next best thing."

"I'm not," Hanna shook her head as she looked down at the ground. She could never be like Alison.

"Well you're getting there, we both are." Mona gave her a determined look as she squeezed her hand tight. "Soon no one will remember who we used to be and no one will have the chance to put us down again."

Hanna sighed and nodded, glancing over her should to the room Caleb had disappeared into one last time before Mona tugged on her arm and they turned a corner. "What?" She met Mona's knowing gaze.

"Hanging around people like Caleb isn't going to get us an invite to Sean's parties or you one to sit on his dick." Mona looked at her pointedly and Hanna noticed a tiny flash of empathy in her eyes. "We've worked so hard for this Han, you can't ruin it for me too."

"I know." She nodded, pursing her lips and forcing a smile. "I won't."

* * *

By the end of lunch Hanna was sick of Mona going on and on about Sean and Noel and mumbled something about going to the bathroom before she grabbed her bag and strolled off. She didn't know where she was going until she made it to the outside seating area and her eyes landed on Caleb.

He was sat in the far corner, curled up on one of the benches that were built into the brick wall. His hood was still up and he had a laptop sat in his knee that he was staring at, his face full of concentration.

"Hi," She gave him a small smile as she stood in front of him, her fingers playing with the zip on her jacket. "What are you up to?"

"Stuff." He looked up at her for the first time since she came over to him. He didn't miss the way she was nervously messing with her jacket or glancing to her side to see who was watching them.

"Oh," She nodded, pursing her lips. "Are you still on for tonight? You don't have any plans do you?" She was rambling and regretting coming over here in the first place. What if Mona came out and saw she was talking to Caleb? Or what if Sean or Noel did and decided not to invite them to the party Mona was working so hard to get them into? But as she met his gaze again all of those thoughts went straight out the window.

"I'll be there at midnight." He nodded in confirmation, a small smirk playing at his lips.

"Okay," She smiled back at him, loosening up a little as her eyes wandered over his face. She hadn't seen him in daylight properly before and the summer sun only accentuated his warm, chocolate eyes and long, dark lashes that were wasted on a guy. Her eyes darted down to his pink, plump lips before she caught herself and swiftly moved her them back up to his. "Um-" She stuttered slightly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as she tried to think of something to say to distract herself from his knowing smirk. "So who were those people you were with this morning? I know one was the principal and one was a cop-"

She stopped as Caleb rolled his eyes, shifting in his seat before he gave in. "One was my foster-mum and the other one was a psychiatrist."

"You have a psychiatrist?" She nodded, taking in this new information.

"They think I have issues." He rolled his eyes again.

"Do you?" She looked at him. "Have issues?"

He stared at her for a few moment, deep in thought before he blinked and squinted as the afternoon sun caught his eye. "Doesn't everyone?"

Hanna didn't say anything in reply, just gave him a shrug as she looked around and noticed they were the only ones still outside. She frowned, they must have missed the bell for class as they talked. "I'm gonna be late," She muttered, more to herself than Caleb as he tucked his laptop away in his worn out rucksack and stood up.

"See you tonight," Caleb nodded at her as she started walking back into the school.

"Where are you going?" She asked him with a frown- she was sure he was in her English class. "We've got double English now."

"Tell Mr Fitz I'm sick or something," He shrugged, shooting her a smirk over his shoulder as he headed for the back exist to the building.

Hanna watched him go, part of her wanted to follow him and see what he was skipping class for, but she knew she couldn't. So she let out a bored sigh as she pushed the door open, trying to think of an excuse for being late as she headed towards the English classroom for the two hours of trying to understand Shakespeare.

Midnight couldn't come quick enough.

* * *

"Hi sweetie," Ashley Marin smiled as her daughter came through the back door from school and dumped her bag on the counter.

"Hey," Hanna frowned, not used to see her Mom home from work earlier than six. "How come your home early?"

"Your father called around to collect some of his things from the garage." She answered, her face straight as she kept her eyes on the pasta she was cooking. "He didn't stay long."

"When did he leave?" She asked, biting her lip to hold back the tears that had started to fill her eyes.

"Not too long ago." The red-head shrugged. "Why?"

"He didn't want to see me?" Her voice wavered. Maybe she was wrong about her dad staying away because he was avoiding her Mom. Maybe it was her he was avoiding.

"Don't get upset Han," Ashley offered her daughter a comforting smile. "You know what he's like, he was in a rush and going straight back to work, he said he'd phone you though."

"He's been saying that for the last two weeks." She muttered, not giving her Mom a chance to reply before he grabbed her bag and headed straight up the stairs.

She cried into her pillow for an hour until Ashley called her for dinner and she quickly splashed her face with cold water before going back downstairs. She was sure her Mom noticed her blotchy eyes, but was thankful when she didn't say anything about them.

The wound of her father leaving was still wide open. She was still adjusting to the quieter house, and the low mood that emanated from her Mom, who was probably still taking in the fact that the last five years of her relationship- of their family- had been a complete lie.

It hurt. It hurt that someone they both loved so much could do that to them and leave them both crying to themselves whenever they were alone. All the years of happy memories had now been ruined and however hard she tried to rifle through their brains to find one it was always overclouded by the thought of who her father was sleeping with at that time.

It was like her whole life had been torn apart, everything she knew, everything that felt like home and made her safe had been ripped in half and she was stuck in the middle of two divorcing parents, one too busy to come visit and the other too emotionally drained to listen.

The only time she felt like she could escape the sinking feeling inside her was when he clock struck midnight and she could let go and simply walk with him, around her block and the block next to it until it got too late and he walked her back home. Being outside with him at night let her forget about all the bad things for a few hours and lose herself in the starry sky and Caleb's dark eyes.

She threw on some comfier jeans and a jacket as twelve approached and sat by her window waiting for his shadow to appear. And it did. Like clockwork he was stood under her window, cigarette in mouth and a stone in hand ready to throw, but he looked up and found her grinning down at him.

He dropped it to the floor and smiled back at her before she shut her curtains and came running down the stairs, out the front for and straight to him. Although as she got nearer to him she noticed her bloodshot eyes and frowned. "What's up?" He swallowed, wanting to know why she had been crying.

"Nothing." She shook her head and forced a smile as they headed down her path and onto the sidewalk before she let out a long sigh and stopped in the middle of the path.

"What?" Caleb looked at her as he took a drag of his cigarette. She seemed different than the two previous night, less up tight and more relaxed in his company. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to reply

"I wanna do something fun." She told him with a nod of her head as if she was agreeing with the voice inside her head telling her to try and forget everything, just for tonight.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Caleb bit his bottom lip, flashing his teeth as he held in a smirk and took in what she had said. She had a determined look on her face and it brought a smile to his. Before he knew what he was doing he had tossed his half smoked cigarette to the ground and held out his hand for her to take. "Come with me."

* * *

 **Let me know what you thought? I know it was kinda a filler chapter but I promise lots more Haleb in the next one and I guess you got to find out a little more about Hanna and Caleb's lives when it's not nighttime. Review? Xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

* * *

Stay and watch the stars come out and then the sun as they all fade away...

* * *

There was a slight smirk on his lips as he watched her eyes shift downward to his outstretched hand, the bright blue orbs trailing over his palm before she reached her own out and joined them together, fingers intertwining and thumbs squeezing.

And then he stared walking and she had to quicken her pace to stay beside him, watching as the moonlight cast shadows across his broad shoulders and dark hair, making his eyes glow against his skin.

They walked for a few minutes before he slowed down and his fast walk turned into a stroll.

"So... Where are we going?" Hanna asked as they seemed to come to a stop. She needed to clarify with him- his idea of fun was probably her idea of dangerous and illegal.

"I dunno." Caleb shrugged, reaching into his pocket and placing a cigarette in his mouth before lighting it with one hand, never letting go of hers.

"Why did you pull me out of the block then?" She looked at him, confusion littering her pretty features as his eyes took in every aspect of her face. Her smooth, porcelain skin and small dark shadows where her dimples were that he had yet to actually see.

"So I could get you away from there before you changed your mind." He answered, taking a long drag before he shrugged again. "What do you wanna do then? We have all night."

"Umm, I have no idea." Hanna had to purse her lips to stop a smile from spreading across her face as his hand involuntarily squeezed hers when his shoulders moved. "But I don't wanna be walking all night." She groaned. "My legs will hurt tomorrow."

"We could steal a car and get the hell out of this place." He offered as he blew out some smoke from the corner of his mouth, watching in amusement as her eyes widened. "I'm joking." He shot her a smirk. "We should steal a bike instead."

"Like that's any better." Hanna scoffed, shaking her head at him.

"I'm still joking." He mumbled. "I have my own bike." He shot her a smile and picked up their pace again a little, hands still locked together as they walked in silence, taking in the calm summer night breeze and the dim buzz from the street lights.

Caleb only let go of her hand as he tossed his burnt out cigarette to the side of the road and came to a stop again. "I'll be a minute." He mumbled before heading down the small pathway and leaving Hanna stood in front of a small, run down house.

She had never been to this part of Rosewood before and if anyone would have asked her she would have guessed somewhere like this didn't exist in her town. It was only a small neighbourhood with a few houses, none of them seemed to be looked after very well; there were smashed windows, broken doors and overgrown gardens.

She swallowed nervously, feeling a slight shiver up her spine as clouds seemed spread across the starry sky like someone had thrown a blanket over it and she felt a few drops of water hit the top of her head, before more of them started to drip down from the grey clouds.

"It's raining," She said as Caleb came back out the door he'd gone in, a glass bottle tucked under his arm as he grabbed the bike that was lying in the front yard and started wheeling it down the path to her.

"It's just water." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You better not pussy out on me now." He smirked, shoving a bottle of vodka into her arms. "The rain will make it better anyway."

"Make what better?" She frowned, unscrewing the bottle and taking a sip, the alcohol burning her throat as her eyes scrunched up and she swallowed. She wasn't used to drinking it straight.

Caleb just shook his head with a chuckled, watching her out of the corner of his eye. "You'll see," He answered, taking the bottle from her and taking a large gulp before he gave it back. "But you have to be pissed for it to be fun."

* * *

"What the fuck are we even doing Caleb?" Hanna let out a tipsy giggle as gripped the half empty bottle in one hand, the other wrapped around his waist as she sat on the back of his bicycle and the summer rain trickled down on them.

"Something cool," He grinned over his shoulder at her, his eyes glazed over with alcohol too as he lead them through the centre of Rosewood.

"It's gonna be really lame isn't it?" Hanna teased, carefully taking a another sip as he pedalled.

"Yup." He his head nodded. "There's nothing fun to do in this fucking town."

She rolled her eyes at him and laughed before she pursed her lips. "Yeah, it is pretty boring."

"I can't wait to get out." Caleb mumbled and Hanna opened her mouth to ask him something but paused when the bike came to a stop. "We're here."

"Where's here?" She looked around and actually took in her surroundings for the first time. They were at the back of the grocery store, at the top of the road that lead straight out of Rosewood.

"That." He nodded his head to the side of them and bit his lip as her arm griped him tighter as she leant over to look.

"Shit that's steep," She muttered. "I've never really looked at it from the top." She blinked as she bit her lip, looking down at the silent town below. All the houses were sat in darkness as the residents slept inside. They were the only ones out in the whole of Rosewood and somehow that made her chest tingle with excitement.

"You ready then?" He smirked over his shoulder as he placed his foot on the ground for a moment to keep them balanced. "You might wanna hold on tight," He added, grabbing the handle bars again. "To me and the vodka."

"Wait no Caleb, I'm not ready, I'm gonna fall, we're gonna die." She rambled nervously, a frown covering her face as her head shook.

He stopped and twisted his body so he was half facing her before he grabbed the vodka out her hand and took another few sips. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." He looked her dead in the eyes, his brown orbs circling her blue ones.

She hesitated before she took in the sincere look on his face and nodded, taking back the bottle and having three large gulps before she screwed the lid back on and wrapped an arm back around his waist. "Okay." She gave in. "But expect me to scream really, really loud right in your ear."

"That's fine by me," He smirked, turning back around and taking a hold of the handle bars as he felt her wedge the bottle between them and use both her arms to hold on to him. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from making any weird noises as she gripped him so tightly, her chin poking his shoulder and her forehead buried in his long hair.

He swallowed and tried to recompose himself as he moved the bike and pushed his foot off the ground. All he felt was her hands squeezing his stomach so tightly, her fingers grappling at the material of his hoodie as the bike started moving. It was slow at first before it dipped over the hill and picked up pace, shooting straight down into Rosewood.

"Oh my god!" Hanna let out a high pitched scream as she clung onto Caleb for dear life.

He let out a smirk, closing his eyes and taking in the feeling of her arms wrapped around him and the wind blowing against his face. With his feet firmly in place on the pedals, he let go of the bike, his hands lifting in the air as Hanna screamed even louder behind him.

"Caleb!" She closed her eyes, feeling the muscles of his back moving against her cheek as she surrounded herself in darkness until it was all over and the bike came to a stop. Her heart was racing and she had to take a few seconds to catch her breath before she lifted her head again. They were sat in the middle of the Supermarket parking lot, Caleb with a wide grin on his face as a rain drop ran down the side of his face.

"You closed your eyes?" He breathed out teasingly, letting out a chuckle as she rolled her eyes.

"You let go of the bike, I thought you were gonna crash it."

"I told you I wouldn't let that happen." His smile fell as he stared right at her. "It's like the closest thing to flying when you let go." He bit his lip. "That's why you have to be drunk to do it."

"What difference does being drunk make?"

He looked down. "So you can convince yourself you're actually flying." He sighed. "Free like a fucking bird." His words were bitter.

She offered him a small smile, squeezing his waist once before she lay her hands flat against the soft material of his black hoodie. "You wanna go again?"

"You sure?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I have anymore eardrums left for you to burst."

"Shut up," She laughed. "I wanna put my arms out this time, see what it feels like myself."

He just nodded, his eyes locking onto hers, darkness surrounding them as they tried to fly through the night sky, tried to forget about everything else and focus on each other and the feeling of been free. This was the only time they had to just be themselves and they were making the most of it.

He turned back around to head back up the hill and she quickly pulled the bottle from between them, leaving it on the floor so she could scoot impossibly closer to him. He set off pedalling again and she closed her eyes, leaning the side of her face against his back as she took in the peace and quiet.

His scent filtered through her nose, it was musky and smokey and she couldn't get enough as she gripped on to him again. She was happy when she was with him. He didn't expect anything from her, he didn't force her to put on a mask and pretend to be someone she wasn't. She was just herself around him and that's why she was so drawn to his dark eyes and cigarette breath.

It didn't take long to reach the top again and this time Hanna focused on everything. She watched as the glow from the street lamps below shot past them, she watched from the side as Caleb's face lit up all over again when he let go and she watched as his brown, choppy locks blew straight into her face.

Without thinking she let go of his stomach and reached one hand up to run her fingers through his hair, holding it back at the base of his neck. A scream left the back of her throat before she threw her free hand up into the air, her thighs clenching against his as she used her muscles to stay on the bike.

She knew what he meant when he said it was like flying. The way the wind and rain washed against her face and her hair flew back, her heart beating against her chest in excitement, her breath caught in her throat as the air pushed past her face, not giving her the chance to take in any oxygen, her freezing cold fingertips, spread out as the cool wind numbed them right to the bone and the dirty, acidic rain stuck to her tongue as her open mouth grinned until once again they came to a stop.

"That was so good," Hanna sighed happily, climbing off the back of the bike and catching her breath. She felt a sense of relief having done it all again, listening to what he told her to do so she could get the best out of it. She had no regrets the second time. "It was amazing."

"It was," Caleb nodded in agreement, as he climbed off the bike too and lay it down on the gravel. He looked back at her and watched as she wrapped her arms around herself tighter, trying to keep warm as her soaking clothes clung to her body.

He sighed and held back the urge to roll his eyes before he peeled off the black hoodie from his body. It was soaking on the outside from the rain- just like her clothes, but on the inside it was warm and dry and would hopefully heat her tiny body right back up.

Hanna watched as he tugged it off, the t-shirt underneath riding up at the same time and alerting her eyes to the tanned skin of his defined V that had appeared. She was surprised; he didn't seem like the type of guy to spend every free second in the gym and yet he seemed to have the perfect body hidden under his dark clothes.

"Here." He twisted the material the right way around and abruptly shoved it over her head. She wriggled her arms and waist until it was on properly and then looked up at him to thank him.

But when their eyes met she froze.

Her gaze locked onto his as he stepped forward, closing the space between them.

He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat as he took in the pieces of her messy, blonde hair, softly blowing in the wind and sticking to her wet forehead. His eyes darted down from her rosy cheeks to her red-tinged lips, that parted slightly as she refused to blink, needing to see his every move, her body frozen in time.

He pursed his own lips, swallowing again before his hands cupped the sides of her face and his nose fell against hers, the cold tips nudging together as Caleb's brown orbs closed and he breathed in her scent. He could feel her soft breaths against his lips, bringing them some warmth as his hands moved further up her face, pushing the pieces of wet hair back from her face before he gripped the edge of his hood and pulled it up over her head.

Catching up with himself, he stepped back. His nose brushing against her cheek as he pursed his lips and sucked in all her warm air until he was left with only the cold night against his plump lips. His eyes rolled and he turned around to pull a cigarette from his back pocket before slumping down on to the gravel and lighting up.

Hanna joined him, reaching across for the bottle of vodka she'd left there and taking another few sips, watching him intently before she let out a huff and lay back on the ground.

"What's up?" She heard Caleb say as he copied her, taking a drag as he looked up at the sky. The rain clouds were slowly dragging over the moon, only letting some of its light filter through down on them.

He could sense her shift in mood and knew that something was bothering her, something deeper than their near kiss just then. "I don't even know," She shrugged, rubbing her lips together as she stared aimlessly at the stars above before closing her eyes and letting the rain fall on her soft cheeks. "I wish we could just stay like this forever."

"Like what?"

"Just lying on the ground in the middle of the night. I don't want to go home and I don't want to go to school tomorrow, I'd rather just stay here."

There was silence for a few seconds before Caleb let out a murmur of agreement and let the smoke from his mouth billow out into the summer rain. "Me too."

They settled into a comfortable silence, Hanna warming up now she was wrapped up in Caleb's hoodie as they passed the bottle of vodka between each other, both taking long sips.

"What was going on today?" Hanna mused out loud before she turned her head to the side to look at him. "I mean with the principle and the cop and everything, Mona said it was something about juvie."

"Who the fucks Mona?" Caleb frowned, flicking off the end of his cigarette.

"My best friend. She works in the office so she knows stuff." Hanna shrugged, nonchalantly.

"It was just a monthly check." Caleb's scratchy voice answered. She didn't know whether it was from the alcohol or his cigarette but she loved how deep it was. "Everyone gets together to talk about how much progress I'm making after coming out of juvie," His voice was thick with disgust. "Even though I don't get to open my own fucking mouth and speak for myself."

"Progress from what?" Hanna asked, slightly warily. "Why did you go to juvie in the first place?"

Caleb just shook his head once, tucking an elbow behind his head as he brought his fingers to his lips and breathed in the thick, velvety smoke. He didn't need to say anymore, Hanna knew he wasn't going to budge- not even when he was slightly intoxicated.

She sighed and turned back to the vodka, taking another large gulp before breathing out heavily. "What was going on with you today anyway?" He asked suddenly. "You looked like you were about to cry this morning when I saw you."

"Oh," She swallowed and kept her gaze low, hoping to hold back the tears that had suddenly sprung up in her eyes. "It's just my Dad still," She trailed off, her mouth opening and closing as she decided what to say. "I haven't seen him in a really long time and I..."

"You miss him." Caleb finished for her. "You don't like that you miss him, but you do."

"No, I..I-" She stuttered, rolling her eyes as she gave in. "Fine, yes. But how did you even know that?"

He just shrugged simply before he let her carry on venting. She was like an open book that had been searching for someone to talk to, someone that wasn't going to judge her or tell her she was wrong. Just someone to listen to and get what she was feeling and at the same time, he felt himself feeling the same way.

There were somethings he'd never willingly tell anyone, but he had other layers that didn't cut quite as deep as that and it felt like he could tell her anything - almost anything - and she wouldn't judge him, or give him all that fake sympathy shit he hated. She would just understand, she'd get him and how he felt and that's why he had already told her more about his real parents than he'd told anybody else in a long time.

"So when was the last time you saw him?" He asked, watching as she kept her gaze locked on the sky above, her hands clenching around the glass bottle in them.

"The day my mum kicked him out." She let out a bitter chuckled that was swiftly followed by a sniffle. "She wasn't even suspicious of him- that's how much she loved him and then one day he just came home from work like normal and dropped the huge bombshell on her. He told her he'd been sleeping with three different women over the past five years- four including her."

"That's rough, I'm sorry." He murmured, not sure how else to comfort her.

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed as drunk tears leaked out from the corners. "I know what he did was wrong and my Mom didn't deserve any of it, but he's still my Dad and I still want to see him." Her voice was quieter now. "We were so close and we had so much fun when I was little and now he doesn't even know me. He dropped our whole family to be with some slutty secutary and now he won't even make time to come see me."

Caleb shuffled closer to her so the outside of his arm was pressed against hers as he heard the quiver in her voice. She just wanted someone to listen to everything she'd been saying to herself for weeks and he was that person.

"I just wanna talk to him about school or homework or anything. I wanna smile laugh like we used to before he left, I just want to stop missing him." Her voice was a mutter by the end and she quickly reached up to wipe away her tears, clearing her throat at the same time. "I shouldn't be complaining, sorry."

"Why not?" Caleb frowned, taking the bottle again as he finished his cigarette.

"I sound like such a spoilt brat complaining about my dad when you have no one." She bit her lip and looked across at him. "My problems are nothing compared to other people's."

Caleb shook his head as he swallowed the alcohol. "Everyone has shit to deal with." He replied. "You're allowed to be upset because a part of your life is fucked up, everyone has shit in their lives and it effects everyone differently."

"True," Hanna nodded in agreement, her eyes meeting his. "So what's your shit?"

"I got a lot of shit." He murmured with a slight chuckle before he pulled out another cigarette and focused his tired eyes on the ground.

Hanna sighed and took another sip from the bottle. She was already tipsy- probably more on the drunk side now, but it felt good. It felt like she could just leave her life behind for a few hours and not have anything worrying her or dragging her down. "I think I'm really drunk." She mumbled as she sat up, her head starting to spin as she blinked a few times. "Did you get me drunk on purpose?"

"Yup." Caleb looked at her as he took a drag. "You needed to loosen up and stop thinking about every little thing you do."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say to that as her eyes scanned over his body. His lips were pursed around the cigarette and his tanned, toned arms were on show as he crossed his boot clad feet. He seemed kinda buzzed too, but in a relaxed kind of way. He was just lay on the ground with his eyes focused on the sky above.

"Can I have a go?" She asked. Caleb lowered his gaze to her, a confused frown written on his features before she nodded down to his mouth and he caught on.

"It's not a go," He chuckled at her, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees as he flicked off the burnt ashes. "It's a drag or a puff, not a go."

"Whatever." Hanna rolled her eyes at him, fighting a grin as the deep chuckled carried on from beside her. "Can I have a puff?" She drunkenly imitated his low, gruff voice.

He shot her a smile and nodded, holding his hand out so she could take it from between his fingers. "Is this your first time?"

She nodded, her eyes scanning the object in her hands before she brought it to her pink lips. "You're corrupting me."

He didn't have chance to respond before she took a long drag of his cigarette. There was a moment of silence as she stared down at it, trying to process it in her spinning head before she let out a cough and a cloud of smoke left her mouth. He grinned, leaning back on his hands and wrinkling his eyes up as he just laughed at her- she was cute when she was drunk.

"Shit Caleb," She panted, coughing into her hand and wiping her tongue with her sleeve as she shoved it back at him. "How do you do that like a million times a day?"

He looked at it for a seconds before bringing it to his lips one more time and tossing it to the ground behind him. "So you didn't like it?" He teased.

"Fuck no." She let out a grumble, not happy about him laughing at her until she threw herself back onto the ground, her body slanting so she was right by his side. "Stop laughing at me." She whined, slapping his side as his face settled into a lazy grin that made her stomach clench. "Stop."

Her voice was weak as her resolve crumbled and a smile unintentionally spread across her face. Before she knew it she was tilting her head back and clutching her stomach as she laughed along with him.

He'd never seen her dimples so obvious before, and it make his smile grow wider as he realised they'd never laughed like this before. In fact, he didn't think he had laughed like this for a very long time.

They quietened down as he lay back down too, the side of their heads pressing together as they caught their breath back before Hanna spoke him yet again. "Are you a virgin?"

He lifted his head slightly, and was surprised by how much she had loosened up from the vodka; she was definitely one of those people who lost their filter along with their sobriety. "No."

"Who was your first?" She asked, turning her head inquisitively.

"Some girl that was staying in the same foster home as me a few years ago." He shrugged. "I used to sneak out in the night to buy weed for her and she'd repay me with sex."

"Was it fun?" She bit her lip, nervously. "Your first time, I mean."

"Sure," He smirked. "All two minutes were a blast."

He broke the tension that had somehow appeared between them as Hanna laughed again. "Seriously?" She teased him.

"Hey, it was my first time getting my dick wet," He held his hands up defensively as he chuckled. "And she was older and hotter and I was just lanky as fuck." He shot her another tempting smirk. "But I've had a lot of practice since then."

"I'm a virgin." The words left her lips before she could stop them, or even think about them properly. She didn't have the confidence other girls have to just go around and sleep with random guys, she was scared and insecure, but she was also curious.

She fought back a blush and turned to look at him, surprised when she found his gaze already locked on her. He didn't say anything and neither did she as they simply scanned each other's faces until his soft, brown eyes landed on her lips once again.

He wondered if she'd ever been kissed. If anyone had ever pressed their lips against hers and wrapped their arms around her body like he nearly had earlier, like he wanted to do now. But he pursed them instead and lowered his gaze again, holding himself back. She was drunk and he was drunk and he didn't want to do something in the middle of a parking lot at night that she'd end up regretting.

He let out a sigh, pushing himself to stand up as water started spitting from the sky again. "Come on," He mumbled, holding out a hand to help her up, he watched her finished off the bottle of vodka and guessed she would have trouble walking in a straight line, never mind sitting on the back of his bike. "It's like three in the morning, you should probably get home now."

"Walk me back?" She pouted up at him, taking his hand and rising to her feet slowly. He waited a few seconds until she got her footing before he let go and moved towards his bike, dragging it in the opposite direction. "Where are you going?" She frowned.

"You can't ride home," He replied over his shoulder, leaning his rusty bicycle against the back wall of the shop so he could come back and get it later. "You're too pissed."

"And who's fault is that?" She slurred, taking his hand as he reached her side again and they started down the path and out of town in the light rain. "I was thinking about you in English today," She started, breaking their silence after only a few minutes.

"Yeah?" He fought back the grin that wanted to spread across his face as he wondered what she was going to spill in her tipsy state.

"Yup." She popped her P and tilted her head back. "And I was thinking that your eyes are really pretty." She nodded to herself.

"They're just brown." He shrugged, not sure where this conversation was heading.

"No," She shook her head. "Brown eyes are my favourite, I don't think they're boring." Her fingers squeezed his where they were joined by her side as she turned to focus on his face. "It's like when you mix a bunch of colours together and it all turns brown, your eyes are just everything about you all mixed together."

Caleb swallowed as she reached her spare hand up to move a strand of his hair so she could see his face properly. "And out here when it's night time, they're so dark they look black, but today when I was you they were lighter- they had like bits of gold and green in them and they looked really nice." She finished with a yawn as her tired eyes drooped and she leant her head on his shoulder, cuddling into his side to keep out the cold of the night.

"You have nice eyes too." He murmured back, keeping a tight grip on her hands as they headed down her block. A harsh gust of wind blew, waking Hanna up slightly and sending her hood flying off as they reached her front gate.

"You want it back?" She asked, lifting up the hem of his black hoodie slightly.

"Nah," He shook his head, stepping back. "Give it me back tomorrow or something."

She nodded and rose on to her tip toes, her arms briefly wrapping around his shoulders in a hug before she let go, her hands trailing down his bare arms. "Thank you, for the hoodie and the vodka and getting my mind of everything."

"No problem." Caleb shook his head, trying to concentrate on anything other than her warm hands on his skin. But he couldn't and all of a sudden he didn't care about her regrets, he just needed to know for himself what it was like. He knew life was unexpected and cruel from his past experiences and he didn't want to waste a single night wondering to himself what it felt like to kiss her.

One kiss, that was all he wanted.

So, slowly, he moved his hands to cup her wet cheeks once more before his finger tips danced against her soft skin. He leaned closer and covered her shivering lips with his, drawing out the cold from inside her and swallowing it at his mouth closed around her bottom lip.

She stilled and he pulled back an inch before diving straight back in for more. She took in his scent, the breath from his lungs and the taste of smoke on his tongue as it simply skimmed along her bottom lip, his teeth grazing her top one before he pulled back and stood up straight.

"Night." He whispered, biting his lips as he shot her a smirk and tucked his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

Hanna was too stunned to reply and by the time she had registered what had happened- that he had finally kissed her- he had already disappeared into the dark night.

* * *

 **I hope I made your monday a little bit better with this longgg chapter, filled with plenty of Haleb. Let me know what you though and if you'd like a preview of the next one. Xxx**

* * *

 _All Time Low- Six Feet Under the Stars_

 _5 Seconds of Summer- Waste the night_

 _5 Seconds of Summer- Vapour_


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

* * *

The longest summer nights are numbered...

* * *

A small sigh escaped Caleb's parted lips as his teeth caught the fragile skin and his eyes flickered over Hanna's sleeping body.

She was so peaceful lay on her side, her face half buried into her pillow and her pink duvet wrapped tightly around her body as it rose and fell with every breath she took.

Her soft snores were somehow soothing to him, lulling him to sleep almost before his brown orbs dropped down to her smooth lips and he sucked in another breath at the thought of last night.

It was just a kiss.

There was no wondering hands, no intrusive tongues - just two pairs of lips pressing against each other, getting a small taste, big enough to to satisfy his curiosity and ignite something much more in the bottom of his stomach at the same time.

But it was just a simple, drunk kiss. He'd had them before and he guessed so had she. Just a kiss exchanged between two drunk teens in the midnight rain as they escaped their reality for a few hours whilst the rest of the town slept.

It was just a kiss, but it felt like so much more.

"Caleb! Oh my god, what the fuck!"

He was snapped from his day dream by Hanna's high pitched screech as she sprung up in her bed- half of her face surprised, the other half still asleep.

"You weren't at school," He said with a simple shrug as he tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. "I came to see if you were okay."

"Wait, what time is it?" The blonde frowned, rubbing her eyes as she shifted in the bed and sat up more comfortably.

"Eleven." He replied. "We had English first lesson and I heard your friend saying you hadn't showed up to school."

"Oh," She groaned, reaching across for her phone that was lying on the bedside table and turning it on. "I didn't hear the alarm clock."

"It was all that vodka last night, knocked you right out." He gave her a wryly grin as he moved to look around her room, taking in the numerous pictures she had up of her friends and family.

"The vodka you supplied." She rolled her eyes at him, her head feeling slightly fuzzy as her hangover came threw. She watched as he shrugged, taking in the khaki green jacket he had pulled over last nights clothes and frowned. "How are you so awake?" She looked up at him. "And how the hell did you get into my house?"

"The back door was unlocked." He answered.

"So you just walked straight in?" She scoffed. "How did you know where my room was?"

"I didn't," He gave her a smirk. "I ended up in your moms room. Shame she wasn't in there."

"Eww, no." Her eyes closed. "Don't even try to put that image in my head."

"I'm joking."

"You better be, she will absolutely not appreciate being hit on by you."

"She's hot." He grinned teasingly.

"How do you even know her anyway?" She was not enjoying this conversation at all, although the way his face looked when he smirked was a different story. It was his warm eyes and bright grin that made his personality- the one under all the mystery and static sentences- shine through.

"I've seen her around town."

"But how did you know who she was?"

"Because she's hot."

Hanna shook her head as a defeated chuckle left her lips and she shoved her duvet back. "Please just shut up."

Caleb bit back another smirk as her long pale legs came into view as she climbed out of bed. He took in the smooth skin from her toes right up to the top of her thighs as he realised all she was wearing was his hoodie and a pair of panties that clung to her hips as her round ass cheeks poked out from underneath the material.

His black hoodie. And a pair of pink panties.

Swallowing, he dragged his eyes away from her soft flesh before he lost control and had to go sort himself out in the bathroom.

And then she bent over to reach something from under her dressing table and he gave up holding back a smirk as he felt his jeans tighten and she turned around.

"Oh," Her lips pursed and her cheeks blushed as she took in the expression on his face and froze. She hadn't realised how little clothing she was wearing as she got out of bed to grab her charger, but his face gave it all away. "Stop looking at me like that." She rolled her eyes, biting down on her lip as she quickly scrambled into a pair of leggings that were lying on the side.

"Don't act like you don't love it." He teased, making his way around to inspect the shelves at the other side of her room.

"Shut up." Hanna rolled her eyes, sitting back on her bed as she plugged her phone in and scrolled through the messages from Mona.

"You weren't telling me to shut up last night." It was only a murmur but it was loud enough for her to hear as he shot her yet another smirk over his shoulder before peering out of her window.

"I was drunk." Hanna tried. "And so were you." Her cheeks turned pink again as she looked down and try to cover them with her hair.

"I know." He nodded, as he watched her chewing nervously on her bottom lip. He kicked himself a little for making her uncomfortable; she was just starting to come out of her shell properly with him now and bringing up their kiss had sent her crawling back inside. "Doesn't matter anyway." He made his way over to the other side of her bed and climbed on, resting his feet on her purple duvet.

"So," Hanna mumbled, placing her phone down and shuffling up slightly so he had more room. "Are we going back to school or.."

"Fuck no." Caleb scoffed. "You're ill remember, you need a day to sleep off your hangover."

"What about you?" She rolled her eyes. "Did you even sleep last night, you look tired?"

"I'm fine." He mumbled, a stubborn look on his face as he reached for the tv remote by his side. She barley had any energy left after getting only a few hours sleep the previous few nights so she had no idea how was always so awake when he seemed to never go home.

"You know, if you're foster moms still annoying you, you can always stay here to get away from her for a night or two." Hanna offered, not really too sure how he would take it. She just wanted to help him the same way talking to him was helping her.

He shook his head, about to snap at her when their eyes met and he instantly softened. She was just so pretty. "She's not that bad." He sighed with a small shrug of the shoulders. "I could be with worse."

"Like what?" She asked, twisting around so she was facing him. She wanted to know more about him.

"I've been moved around a lot, there's some people that take you in like you're part of family and others that use you to blame for everything they've fucked up in their lives." He swallowed. "Janet just uses the money she gets for me on cheep alcohol and ignores that I'm actually there."

"Did you ever get adopted?" She asked after a few seconds. "What's the difference between adopted and fostered? I don't really know."

"Adopting is when you take the kid in like your own, but fostering is just temporary."

"So have you ever been adopted?" She asked, offering him a small smile. She could tell by the way he swallowed and his easy smile disappeared as soon as she brought the topic up that it made him uncomfortable.

He pursed his lips, looking at her for a few seconds before he gave in. Usually he shut down and blocked out whoever started talking to him about his past, but with Hanna he wanted to tell her more, he wanted her to understand. "I was once," He began. "When I was a little kid."

"What happened?"

"I think I was like nine or ten or something and this couple decided to adopt me, they said they couldn't have children of their own so they wanted to help out the disadvantaged children in the community." His voice was thick with disgust. "I was with them for a few months and then the woman got pregnant and they sent me back to the care home."

"God Caleb, can they even do that?" Hanna frowned.

"I guess they just said they couldn't afford me and the baby so the state had no choice but to take me back."

"But you were only young, that's so cruel." She couldn't stand the thought of him as a little boy being rejected all over again. She'd known him less than a week and she already couldn't bare the thought of him in any kind of pain.

"Life's cruel," He mumbled, messing with the remote in his hands. "Parents are fucking cruel."

Hanna sighed, she could understand his bitterness although she didn't completely agree. "Did you ever see them again?"

"Fuck no," He scoffed, looking down. "I asked my social worker to stop putting me up for adoption after that."

"But you could've found another couple that actually wanted you." Her face grew into a smile. "Who wouldn't want to give a cute little boy another chance?"

"Did you just call me cute?" Caleb raised a dark eyebrow at her.

"No I called baby Caleb cute." She chuckled. "Teenage Caleb kinda stinks and he has this long greasy hair and his bad boy boots on my bed."

"My hair is hot." He smirked at her. "The girls love a good long, greasy haired bad boy."

"I'm more of a Justin Bieber girl myself." She shot him a wryly smile, reaching across and grabbing the controller out of his hand so she could turn her tv on.

"Oh yeah?" He grabbed it back, his finger tips running along her arm and sending a shiver through her bones as he smirked right at her. "Bet Justin Bieber wouldn't give you his vodka and let you ride on the back of his bike all night. He's a pussy not a bad boy."

Hanna let out a laugh as she reached over his body for the remote, their faces inches apart as she grabbed his wrist and pulled it closer to her. Her eyes darted down from his deep, oozing eyes to his soft lips.

Bad boy, good lips. All she could think about was his smokey breath from last night as his free hand ran up her thigh to rest on her ass and he pulled her down so she was straddling him. Her hand let go of its grip on his wrist and moved up to tuck back a strand of his dark hair, her knuckles softly grazing his cheek before she sucked in a breath and pressed her lips briefly against his, only enough to satisfy the need in her stomach before she pulled away.

Caleb could've groaned in frustration as she sent him a small shy smile before climbing off his lap and grabbing an empty mug from the side. "I'm going to get a drink, do you want anything?" She asked.

"No," Was all he mumbled back as he rolled his eyes at himself and watched her exit the room. Her lips had barley fluttered against his and his mind was wandering, they were so soft and wet and he just wanted to feel more of them like he had done last night. He wanted to feel more of her and yet, at the same time, he didn't want to push things too far. The thought of loosing her, loosing their midnight walks that brought him so much comfort, scared him enough to turn on the tv and try to forget about her lips kissing his.

Hanna let out a silent scream as she skipped down the stairs, her cheeks still slightly blushed as her face erupted into a grin at the thought of kissing Caleb again.

Last night had been a little blurry in her memory from all the vodka she had drank and their tipsy bike ride but now she was wide awake and the feelings she was getting from a simple touch of the lips was something she'd never had before.

She'd never been kissed by a guy, not properly at least, never having the confidence to put herself out there and risk being rejected. She couldn't have another person make her feel safe and secure and then walk away at the drop of a belt like her dad had done.

Caleb was different though, she decided as she reached into the fridge for the orange juice. He was blunt and real, without any kind of social status circling him and squeezing a different version out. It was just him, his cigarettes and his deep warming eyes.

She poured herself a drink quickly, grabbing some pain killers for her head ache whilst she was at it before she headed back up the stairs. She paused though as she headed through her bedroom door, sucking in a breath as she found him sprawled out on her bed, his chin tucked into his chest and hand wrapped around the remote as he slept.

She smiled to herself as she ditched her glass on the side and eased the remote out of his hands, turning it off before she looked back at him. His face was completely relaxed as quiet snores emitted from his nose and his chest gently rose and fell.

Rolling her eyes at him, she peeled back the corner of the duvet. She knew he must have been exhausted spending every night wandering the dark streets and smoking his was through pack after pack of cigarettes. It wasn't healthy not to get at least some rest and she was glad he felt comfortable enough to do it at her house, on her bed.

A frown filtered on to her face though as she noticed he still hadn't taken his black boots off, they were probably spreading mud all over her blankets so she quickly moved around and started to pull them all his big feet.

She got the first one off easily and moved to the seconds straight away, pushing up his black jeans to reveal the bottom of his tanned, hairy legs before something else caught her eye.

It was half hidden under his worn out sock and her eyes had to do a double take before she realised what it was, but clasped tightly around his ankle was a electronic tag. She'd only seen them on tv before, but she was pretty sure what it was as she pulled his jeans back down and dumped his boots on the floor.

She didn't know what to think as she climbed back into bed bedside him. He wasn't dangerous; she knew that the minute she sat down next to him on the curb a few nights ago and despite what she had heard- and seen- around school, she knew he wasn't a bad person either. He'd just had a bad life that had left him in a few too many bad situations.

Another soft breath left his lips and she seemed to relax a little watching him sleep. Her finger tips reached out of their own accord to run along his smooth cheeks once more before she closed her eyes too and let her head sink back into the pillows.

* * *

Hanna hadn't meant to fall asleep when she got into bed beside him, she just wanted to rest her eyes for a few seconds but a few seconds had turned into a few hours and before she knew it she was being woken up by a jerky movement beside her.

It took her a while to come to her senses, realising it was probably late afternoon by now as she yawned and rubbed her eyes, until they came into focus on Caleb.

He was on his back still, his eyes closed tightly and his lips parted as quiet whimpers escaped them. She couldn't tell what he was saying but by the way he was violently shaking his head she knew it couldn't have been good.

"Caleb," Her hand nudged him as she sat up. "Caleb," She tried again, only louder this time and it worked. His eyes shot open, a terrified shadow clouding over them before he took in her face and relaxed back into the pillows.

"What?" Was his small mutter of reply as he ran his hand through his messy hair and bit down in his lip.

"Are you okay?" She looked at him. "I think you were having a nightmare or something."

"I'm fine." He answered shortly, quickly pushing back the duvet and getting out of the bed. "I shouldn't have gone to sleep."

"Why?" Hanna questioned as he rubbed his sweaty face and stripped out of his green jacket. "Do you have nightmares a lot?"

"No." He shook his head, answering a little too quickly for it to be believable. "Not in a long time anyway." He muttered as he watch her eyebrows raise. "I need a cigarette."

"You can't smoke in here." Her voice died in her throat as she watched him completely ignore her and shove her bedroom window open before he lit up.

A sigh left her mouth as he breathed in the thick smoke and visibly calmed down. She didn't expect someone like Caleb to have nightmares, especially in the middle of the day- he'd been to juvie for god sake, but then she paused. Maybe that's why he had the nightmares in the first place.

She still didn't know why he'd spent nine months locked away from the rest of the world and he clearly didn't want to talk about it, but there was so much she wanted to know about his time in there, why he went there in the first place and the tag around his ankle.

But now clearly wasn't the time to bring all that up. So instead she slipped out from under the covers and made her way over to him, offering a comforting smile and she reaching up to run her fingers through the front of his long hair.

"Do you want a shower?" She asked. "You're kinda sweaty."

He looked at her for a few seconds, his head hanging low as he concentrated on her pretty blue eyes before nodding. "Yeah, thanks."

He tried to remind himself of what he'd said before, that she meant too much to him and that he couldn't risk loosing her for something he'd already had. But as he looked down at her pale skin and perfect pink lips he knew she wasn't like anyone he'd been with before. She was sweet and somewhat innocent and she held absolutely no judgement in her eyes at all.

So he dropped his forehead down to meet her's, his free hand pulling her closer before he planted his lips on hers. Again, it didn't last long but it was what he needed to help him forget about all the shit his mind was dragging back into his dreams every time he closed his eyes.

She stayed close to him as he finished his cigarette, watching him toss it out the window before she guided him to the bathroom and told him to meet her downstairs when he was done.

She was half way through making a sandwich when he reappeared, jeans hanging around his waist and hair dripping on to his bare shoulders as he headed to the back doors for another cigarette.

"Um where's your shirt?" Hanna asked, biting her lip as she caught a glimpse of his toned chest before he turned around, leaving her his muscly back to stare at.

"Here," He lifted his free hand with the black material in before he tossed it over the back of a stool that was sat at the kitchen island. "It'll get wet if I put it on now."

"We have towels." She rolled her eyes at him. "And like three hair dryers."

Caleb just shot her a smirk over his shoulder as he took a long drag. "But this way you get to stare at my six pack until my hair dries."

"Wouldn't say it's a six pack." She teased, putting down the knife and making her way over to him. She hesitated for a seconds before she took in the smirk plastered to his face and reached out to run her fingers down his tanned skin. "More like a four pack. It's still hot though." The last comment left her mouth before she could stop it and Caleb let out a laugh as he watched her cheeks blush red.

"Hmm," He grinned down her as his hand cupped her cheek and he kissed her again, this time harder, using his teeth to nip at her bottom lip and his tongue to tease her top one.

She placed both her hands on either side of his waist, stroking the skin there as she rose up onto her tip toes so she could push her tongue into his mouth too, letting out a satisfied sigh as she felt him cup her butt.

Her hands wandered up his body to run through his hair, twisting the wet tendrils back from his face as she pulled away. "What?" He pouted, confused as to why she stopped.

"Nothing." Her voice was quiet as she gave him a smile before dipping back in for more, watching as his eyes clouded over like someone had dropped black ink into them. They were just so dark and warm and velvety and she couldn't get enough.

They kissed some more until they both had to pull back for a breath, Caleb taking one from his cigarette as Hanna rolled her eyes at him and laughed. "Do you ever not have one in your hand?" She raised an eyebrow, taking it from between his lips to stub it out and hide the burnt out butt behind a plant pot.

"I wasn't done with that." His eyes widened as he wrapped both his hands around her now.

"I think you was." She grinned, her lips brushing against his. "You can do other things with your mouth instead."

"Like what?" He played dumb, his hot breath making her skin tingle. "Don't try and change me Han."

The smirk on his lips let her know he was only half joking as his fingers ran patterns along her ass cheeks. "Never." She grinned. "I like you just the way you are." Their noses were nudging as she spoke. "Just don't see why you want a cigarette in your mouth when you can kiss me instead."

She leant in and he pulled back, a teasing grin on his face as he brushed past her and took a seat on a stool. "I made a promise I'd smoke a cig everyday for the rest of my life," He told her, grabbing the sandwich on the side and taking a bite. "Didn't make any about kissing pretty girls."

"To who?" She laughed, holding back another grin at his offhanded compliment.

"My friend, Liam." He smiled sadly.

"The one who died?" She asked, leaning against the counter opposite him.

"Yeah," He nodded. "He never told me why but he used to swear he'd smoke one a day till the day he died," He swallowed a lump in his throat. "So I'm gonna carry it on for him, see how long I last."

Hanna nodded, watching him finish the rest of her sandwich in silence before she spoke again. "Is that who you were dreaming about before? I just- you seemed pretty shaken up when you woke up and-"

"Yeah," He nodded simply. "I haven't had them in a long time, it just scared me I guess."

Hanna knew she had to drop it as she watched his shoulders hunch and his gaze lock on the counter before he pulled his t-shirt back over his head, his hair practically dry by now. But she couldn't drop it. He knew almost everything about her already and she knew nearly nothing about the past few years of his life.

"I was thinking about what you said last night," She began, catching his attention again. "About leaving Rosewood." The words almost hurt to say and she had to mentally slap herself for getting too attached. "Where will you go?"

"No idea," He shrugged. "Somewhere far away, where I can start over again."

"I saw your tag." She mumbled. "On your ankle when I was taking your boots off earlier."

"Oh." He stayed quiet for a second, trying to figure out what she was thinking from her facial expression before she sighed and gave in. "They put it on me when I got out of juvie," He mumbled, knocking his ankle against the leg of the stool as it chimed through his jeans. "It tracks where I go."

"But what about when you skip school? What about now?" She didn't want the police knocking on her door and dragging him back to school because he had left to come check on her.

"It's not that smart," He rolled his eyes. "It has Rosewood coordinates programmed into it so it tells the police when I step over the boarder. Apart from that I can do what I want as long as I stay in this shitty town."

"What about when you shower?"

"Bitch is waterproof."

"Have you ever tried to get it off."

Caleb raised an eyebrow at her. "I've tried hacking into it, I've tried unscrewing it, I've tried hitting it with a hammer- nothing works."

"That's shit," She mumbled. "How long do you have to keep it on?"

"I dunno, the cops meet with the principle every few weeks to talk about it but they won't tell me when I can get it off. All it does is trap me here so I can't run off again."

"Well," Hanna gave him a shy smile. "I'm glad you're here, for now at least."

He nodded, scanning over her soft features before he let himself smile as well. "Me too." She was just so beautiful, stood there in the clothes she'd slept in- his clothes she'd slept in- with her hair all messy and not an inch of make up on her face. "Even if my abs were unfairly downgraded."

A laugh escaped Hanna's lips at that and she didn't hear the tyres crunching along the driveway, or the car door slamming until her Mother appeared at the back door, a weary look on her face. "Hello." She introduced herself, causing Caleb's head to whip around to see who was stood behind him before he turned back to Hanna and smirked.

She looked away from him, knowing she didn't want to know what was going through his head right now and concentrating on her Mom. "You're home early again." She swallowed nervously.

"It's quarter to five Han, I'm only fifteen minutes early." Ashley pointed out, stepping forward to dump her bag on the counter.

"Caleb came around to give me the homework I missed, we have English together and I wasn't feeling well this morning so-"

"I know." Ashley nodded. "I was going to wake you up but you looked tired the evening before so I just called the school and said you needed a mental health day. I told them about your father and they understood."

Hanna nodded, watching as her Mom rubbed her forehead before letting out a deep sigh. "I'm going to have a bath before I start on the lasagne," She explained, grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge. "Are you staying for dinner Caleb?"

"Err, no, thanks, I should head back-"

"He'll stay." Hanna answered for him, shooting her Mom a small smile before the red head disappeared up the stairs.

"You don't have to feed me." He shook his head at her as she edged closer to him.

"I do if it means I can kiss you some more." She said, not waiting for a reply before she pushed her lips against him. She was really starting to like his familiar smokey taste invading her mouth as she moved to sit on his lap and carried on kissing him until her lips hurt.

* * *

 **Sooo, you kind of know a little more about Caleb's past and his ankle tag, but why do you think he went to juvie in the first place? I wanna hear your theories. Xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

6.

* * *

Maybe there's nothing after midnight that could make you stay...

* * *

Hanna let out a flustered sigh as she stuffed all her books into her bag and tried to find a matching pair of shoes in the thirty seconds she free until she had to set off for school.

She grabbed one heal and turned to reach for the other when the piece of black material that was hung over to back of her chair caught her eye and she grinned.

After dinner last night Caleb had left, skipping their nightly walks for one evening whilst she caught up on all the sleep that she had been missing, but she hadn't been able to sleep. Instead she had wrapped herself up in his black hoodie and curled up in her bed, simply letting him take over her thoughts.

His dark, brooding eyes, his smirk, his tanned, muscly shoulders and then the shadow that had fallen across his face when she woke him up from his nightmare. He looked terrified, like he was going to be sick, and then just so ashamed.

A big part of her was desperate to know why he had that tag around his ankle and what he'd done to get into juvie in the first place, but he shut down when she brought it up and she'd rather still have him around than him disappear because she wouldn't stop pestering him about it.

Unwilling, she broke her gaze away from his hoodie, grabbed her shoe and headed down the stairs to pick up her lunch before she left. "Morning Mom," She smiled, watching as her mother scrolled half-heartedly through her phone before she looked up.

"Morning Han," She smiled, handing over the box with her food in before taking a sip of her coffee. "Did you sleep well?"

"Kind of," Hanna shrugged, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge as she bit her lip and went out on a whim asking the question that had been playing on her mind all morning. "After school can I bring Caleb over? Just to help with homework and revise and stuff."

Ashley looked up from her bowl of fruit, with a slightly confused expression on her face. "Caleb...?"

"Caleb Rivers, he had dinner here last night," Hanna frowned. Did her mom seriously not remember him? "Long brown hair, sat right where you are now?"

"Oh, yeah," The red head nodded, lowering her gaze to stare at her breakfasts before she shook her head. "Sorry, my minds all over the place at the minute Han." She shot her daughter an apologetic half-smile.

"With dad and the divorce, I know." Hanna nodded, holding back from rolling her eyes. "So..?"

"I suppose he can come over," Ashley nodded. "But no going upstairs."

"Thanks Mom," Hanna grinned, leaning over to kiss her cheek before she headed out the door.

"Hanna wait," Ashley called out, stopping the blonde in her tracks. "Just be careful okay? I trust you and I know your sensible but, please be careful around this boy."

"I will." Was all she got as a reply before the front door was slammed shut. She took a deep breath, trying to shake off the low feeling that seemed to be hovering over her before she thought back to last night.

It had surprised her seeing her daughter dressed down for once, without any make up on and laughing her real laugh in front of a boy- not the fake giggle she forced every time Mona opened her mouth. Actually, when she did think about it, she hadn't given it much thought until now, having been distracted by her phone and her bath and her wine.

But this Caleb kid, he didn't seem too bad. He had gratefully eaten her lasagne, cleaned up after himself and left quietly after it. More importantly though, he seemed to bring out the real Hanna she thought she had lost when Tom left them. She was still sceptical of course, but part of him had already earned her trust.

* * *

Once again Hanna felt like she had a constant radar hooked into her brain, scanning for Caleb down every corridor and in every class room as she made her way through the first two lessons of the day.

She just wanted to know he was here so she could pull him aside and invite him to dinner later. She knew he'd say no, like he seemed to do whenever she offered him anything but she also knew if she kissed him, he'd give in.

It wasn't a huge act of kindness, just an invitation to experience more of her mothers bad cooking and given the fact that he never seemed to go home, or wouldn't accept her offer of the spare room for a few nights- making sure he had at least one decent meal inside him was the least she could do.

"Han, your staring again." Mona's voice chimed in her ear as she felt the brunette hook their arms together as she pulled her along the hallway in the direction of Caleb.

He had his back to them, his dark choppy hair and khaki green jacket making him instantly recognisable to her as he stepped aside and Sean came into view from in front of him.

Hanna had every intention to carry on straight past them now she knew Caleb was here, but Sean called out to her and Mona instantly spun them around. "Hey Hanna, you don't have a twenty on you, do you? I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Um," She stuttered, biting down on her lip as her eyes met with Caleb's and her face muscles instinctively tried to smile. "No," He didn't smile back though as she looked between the two boys who seemed to be in the middle of some sort of dodgy deal. "Sorry."

"Mona?" Sean turned to her.

"Why?" She smirked, her eyes falling to Caleb. "You set up a prostitution profile or something?"

"Funny." He snarked before turning back to Sean. "You gonna pay me or what?"

"You said forty when I gave it to you the other day," The blonde protested, pointing at the phone in Caleb's hand. "Now you want eighty? I didn't bring enough."

"I said forty to the Bridget chick, you wanted more storage which is gonna cost you more." He explained like he was taking to a complete idiot.

"Look man, you've got forty, just give me my phone." Sean rolled his eyes impatiently, reaching out to grab it from him but Caleb was too quick and pulled it back.

"Not until you give me forty more." He replied, his jaw clenching as the bell rang but no one made a move to get to class, Hanna and Mona still stood at the side of them, watching intently as the tension between the two boys rose.

"Dude," Sean tried to reason with him. "I'm not looking for trouble." He held his hands up and Caleb knew he was being sincere, even if he was going about it in a prick-like way, but he needed this money desperately. "I've paid you most of it, move on."

"You've paid half, I want the other half." He was starting to loose his patience as his grip on the phone tightened.

"For what?" Mona spoke up again. "Got some buddy in juvie you've got to bail out?"

"Yeah, why'd you get locked up anyway Man?" Sean asked nonchalantly, completely missing the way Caleb's face fell a mile when the J word was brought up.

Hanna looked between him and Mona, was she really the only one who could see it? "Did you hack some illegal government shit?" Sean looked almost excited as he spoke.

"Or are you one of those psychopath teen murders?" Mona teased, a proud smile leaving her lips as she watched him struggle to reply. She wanted to shut him down and shove him away from them before Hanna got too caught up by him. She knew her best friend and she knew she was falling for this long-haired boy by the way her eyes always ended up back on him. She had to put a stop to them before she got ditched yet again. "Why am I asking anyway? I can just read your files."

"What?" Caleb glared at her. He hated this girl more and more every time he saw her.

"You're not the only one good with computer programming, you know?" She smirked, her arm looping tighter around Hanna's elbow as the blonde stayed quiet. She didn't know what to say, what would be too obvious and show how well she actually knew Caleb.

"Good luck with that." He mumbled a reply, before turning back to Sean and trying not to give Mona the attention she was craning for. "Now just give me the money so I can get the hell out of here."

"I told you I don't have it." He sighed helplessly before something caught his eye over Caleb's shoulder and he straightened up, clearing his throat and tucking his hands in his pockets.

"Why aren't you all in class?" The semi-familiar voice of the principal echoed down to them as he stepped closer. "What's going on?"

"Nothing sir," Sean smiled politely, pursing his lips as the balding man turned to look at Caleb, glancing at the phone and money in his hands before he made eye contact. "What's this?"

"Nothing." Caleb muttered, already knowing it was too late. The principle wasn't as dimwitted as the rest of his teaching staff.

"I think you need to come with me Mr Rivers. Selling property isn't permitted on school grounds." He pointed down the corridor as Caleb threw his head back slightly, biting his lip as he used every last opportunity possible to get out of it. He couldn't get into more trouble, he couldn't be brought to the attention of the school board and the police yet again.

"I wasn't selling it." He spoke, looking the principle dead in the eyes to try and convince him. Technically, he wasn't actually lying.

"Don't dig yourself deeper Caleb." He just shook his head. "Now get into my office before I have take this another step further."

Caleb gave him a short nod, his brown eyes falling to Sean and Mona before he rolled them and tucked the phone and money back into his pocket. He could see the blonde about to protest before she stopped himself and turned on his heals in the opposite direction, Mona following him and leaving Hanna stood by herself.

She had barley said a word in the past ten minutes and Caleb wasn't surprised. He'd watched her at school the past few days and he couldn't ignore the way she hesitated before making any form of contact with him, even when their eyes met in the corridors she always lowered them before looking back up.

He hated it, but he knew there was nothing he could do. Maybe she was just ashamed to be seen with him in daylight. Maybe it would be too much of a strain on her reputation and more importantly, her popularity.

"Caleb wait," She called out as he started to follow the principle. He turned his head and watched as she bit down on her lip, her fingers nervously messing with each other.

"What?" His voice was flat and cold as he gave her two seconds to reply before he carried on, strolling into the principles office that was already feeling like a second home.

* * *

Hanna let out a sigh of relief as a dark shadow and faint puff of smoke finally came into view.

For the past hour she'd been walking through the whole of Rosewood looking for him. Down every block and every street in the dark, slightly terrified of what would jump out and scare her. But so far all she was scared of was Caleb.

She was scared he was going to ignore her again, walk away from her and pretend she didn't exist and she had no idea why.

Like they'd been doing for the past few days now, she had been waiting for him on her windowsill at midnight. Waiting for his dark orbs and tempting smirk to appear so she could run straight out of the house and disappear for a few hours with him. But it hadn't.

She'd tried phoning him, but she didn't have his number. So instead she decided to look for him, and hope that whatever she had done wasn't bad enough to send him back to his foster-mom, because there was no way she was stepping foot on that street alone.

"Caleb," Her voice called out and his head shot up from where he was sat against a tree at the back of the park. "What are you doing here?" Why didn't you meet me at my house?"

There was no reply as she came to stand in front of him. He just took a long drag, his gaze focused on the ground.

"I'm sorry," She tried. "I'm sorry for whatever I did to piss you off.

"Why'd you come looking for me?" He scoffed, she didn't even realise what she'd done.

"Because I was worried," She mumbled, her forehead creasing as he pushed himself to his feet. "And I don't get why you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," He sighed, taking another breath of smoke. "I'm mad at the fucking situation."

"Why? What happened with Hackett?"

"I got suspended." He answered. "Thanks to your dickhead boyfriends fucking phone."

"Oh," Hanna furrowed her eyebrows. "That's why your avoiding me? He's not even my boyfriend."

"I'm not avoiding you, I was just stupid to think that you were different." He muttered. "You just stand by and watch like the rest of them."

"I'm here now aren't I?" She tried, he was being stubborn and sulking like a little kid.

Caleb just looked at her for a few seconds, his face emotionless until he turned to face the dark street again. "Leave me alone Hanna."

"No," She raised her voice slightly, moving to step closer to him. "Why are you pushing me away, I thought we were friends?"

"I'm not pushing you away." He grunted.

"Yes your are Caleb, stop throwing yourself a pity party and get over it." She rolled her eyes, he was infuriating. "You got suspended, you've been to juvie for god sake, it's nothing in comparison."

His head snapped around at that and he had a look in his eyes she'd never seen before. It was a mix of anger and fear and it scared her. "You don't get it do you?" He shouted at her. "Everything I do, every detention and suspension and call to the police gets me one step closer to being sent back there and I'd rather sit here and argue with you all night than ever step foot in that place again."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair before he gave in a little more. "I'm out early, on good behaviour and every bad thing I do is made a note of until they feel like I need to be reminded how to behave again."

"Oh," Hanna bit her lip. Maybe she had been a little harsh on him. "I didn't know, sorry."

"It's fine." He muttered, dropping his cigarette to the ground and stumping it out before he lit another one straight after. "I just can't go back there."

"What was it like?" She asked after a second, not missing the shaky state of his voice. "I've always wondered what actually happens."

"It's horrible." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "And I've been in some pretty shit foster homes." He let out a bitter laugh, a darkness taking over his eyes as his pupils blended into the chocolate brown. "You get kicked and punched and your food thrown on the floor and your things stolen from your cell." Her eyes focused on his quivering lips as he took a short breath from his cigarette. "You're basically treated like the murders and rapists. It's shit."

Hanna didn't know what to say. She wanted to cry for him, for the way he talked about it, the way his lips were shaking. He was terrified. "I'm sorry." She took a sudden step foreword so she was right in front of him, her fingers tips edging towards his, wanting to feel him if he'd let her. "I'm sorry for what you went through and I'm sorry that I didn't stop Sean or the principle or Mona, I wasn't thinking about the effects of it all."

He shook his head and accepted her touch, his hand instantly spreading with heat. "I deserved it and none of that was your fault anyway," He looked down at his feet. "I was just being a dick."

"I'm sorry." She repeated, her soft fingers slipping between his and

stroking the rough skin of his hand as she pushed herself up into her tiptoes so she could look him directly in the eye. "I didn't mean to hurt you, you're just different and you make me feel good."

And that's what made her different, Caleb couldn't help but think as he mentally kicked himself for being wrong about her. She apologised and she accepted that she made a mistake and she just got him.

Her eyes bore into his again as she squeezed his hand tight and he rolled his eyes, taking the cigarette between two fingers of his free hand and blowing the smoke away from her face as he tried not to lose himself in her sorry eyes. They were so blue and pretty and it made his chest tighten and his stomach flip and before he knew what he was doing their foreheads were pressed together.

"I should say sorry," He muttered, as she wrapped her free arm around his waist. "I got scared of being sent back there and I shouldn't have and I took it out on you."

"It's okay." She smiled, the tips of their noses meeting briefly.

"It's not." His head shook.

"Everyone's scared of something," She looked at him. "It's not stupid." She could feel his hot, smokey breath against her cheeks and it only made her cling onto his hand tighter. "You wanna know what I'm scared of?"

"Go on then," He smiled, as a long sigh left her lips and he took a step back so he could see her face properly.

"It's kinda silly compared to yours but sometimes I have this dream that everyone just leaves me. My mom finds someone new and moves out like my dad did and my friends all find someone better and leave me and I'm just terrified that one day I'll wake up and everyone will hate me and they're all gonna abandon me and it scares me a lot."

"Then don't let them leave." Caleb looked at her, his fingers leaving her's to cup her cheek before he pressed a short kiss to her lips.

His taste spread throughout her body and her hand found its way into his hair, pushing his head back for more as their lips kept meeting again and again until they both pulled back for a breath.

"Come on," He muttered, taking her hand again and tossing his burnt out cigarette away. "It's late, I'll walk you home." He pulled her into his side, keeping her small body warm as they clung onto each other and walked in silence under the stars.

It was like Hanna had some kind of power over him. She knew exactly what to say and exactly how to look at him for him to tell her almost anything and it scared him to think about what he could potentially spill in the future. He didn't know how she'd react, if she'd still want to know him, or if she'd be scared to come near him.

She was too important to him already to loose, so for now he had to keep his lips sealed and pray she wouldn't go routing- or someone else wouldn't do it for her.

* * *

 **Thank you all so much for your reviews xxx**

 **Frenchbenzo and guest: Ashley's like that for a reason that will hopefully become clearer soon xx**

 **Anyway, let me know what you thought and if you'd like a preview xxx**


	7. Chapter 7

7.

* * *

Under moonlit skies we'll be hanging like a cigarette...

* * *

Hanna almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a sharp tapping coming from the patio doors behind her. The ice cream covered spoon in her hand dropped immediately as her head whipped around to find Caleb stood outside, his knuckles pressed against the glass as he knocked again.

"I'm coming, calm down." She mumbled, more to herself as she stood up and unlocked the door to let him inside. "You do know midnights not for another four hours don't you?"

"I know," He rolled his eyes as he strolled straight past her. "But I need your help with something."

"What's something?" She asked him, moving around the kitchen to lean on the counter opposite him. "Is it illegal?"

"Maybe," He tilted his head to the side and bit down on the corner of his lip. He knew she wasn't going to be persuaded very easily. "I just need you to help me break into school."

Hanna just stared at him blankly for a few seconds before she spoke. "Absolutely not. That is every kind of illegal."

"Please Han, I promise we'll be in and out, I just gotta delete something on the system." He tried.

"Can't you just hack into it from your laptop?" She wasn't going to give in to him, she didn't want to give in to him, but his big, brown, soft eyes we're just staring straight down at her.

"Not for what I need to do, it has to be done from the main school computer and I can't get into that remotely without leaving a trace."

"But why can't you do it in school time, why do we have to break in?" She whined.

"I'm suspended remember." He frowned at her before pulling his arm out of the inside of his jacket. "I brought vodka."

"Fine." She grumbled, rolling her eyes at herself as she finally caved. The memories of the last time they got drunk together brought back a fuzzy feeling in her stomach and she couldn't help but feel the need for them to be that close and carefree again. "But if we get caught-"

"I'll take all the blame." He finished her sentence for her with a smirk. "That won't be happening though, there's no security."

"How do you know that?" Hanna asked. "Aren't there cameras set up everywhere?"

"There's cameras up, they just don't work." He answered, setting the glass bottle on the table. "And I kinda crashed there for a few weekends last month."

"Caleb," Hanna let out a sigh as she looked at him pointedly. "You know if you need somewhere to crash you don't even have to ask."

"I know," He swallowed. "But I'm good."

"You're not." She hated to pester him but she was just concerned for his health, and it wouldn't exactly hurt to have him sleeping two doors down in the spare room every night. "You need to sleep and stay warm and you can't do that on the street all night."

"I can't sleep anyway." He muttered before starting to open the vodka as Hanna sighed. Why did he have to shut down so quickly?

"Why?" Her voice was soft as she watched him take a long sip.

"Because.." He trailed off, his eyes dropping before he glance up at her apprehensively. "I get nightmares and shit, and I can't stop them. That's why I have a psychiatrist, they think it will help."

"Does it?"

"Does it fuck." He grumbled, grabbing the bottle and screwing the lid back on. "You ready to go?"

She nodded silently and grabbed a jacket and some shoes before she followed him out. Most of the walk was silent as they passed the bottle between each other, watching as the sky started to dim and turn orange as they got nearer and nearer to school.

"So what happened with Sean's phone and everything? Did you give it back?" Hanna asked, her shoulders hunched from the cold before she decided to tuck herself into his side and link their hands together as he took a deep breath from his cigarette.

"No, he hasn't paid me." Was the smokey reply she got as his fingers tightened their grip on hers.

"What do you need the money for anyway?" She rolled her eyes.

"There's this guy I know, he said he might be able to get my tag off, but it's gonna cost a lot." He replied and Hanna instinctively huddled even closer to him, the bottle pressed between them.

"Why do you need to get it off?" She asked, almost afraid of the answer. She didn't want him to leave. "Won't the cops get it taken off soon if your good?"

"I dunno." He shook his head, taking another drag. "But I just hate it. It follows me and keeps me locked in this town and I don't like not being able to get out if I have to."

"Why would you have to?" Her voice faded out as his hand let go of hers to toss away the burnt out cigarette, ignoring her question. She didn't push him any further, keeping close to his side though, as they approached the empty school. "So what now?"

"Last time I stayed here I stole a key and yesterday I left the window above the door on a latch," Caleb started to explain as they reached the main entrance and pointed up. "It's still open so you just have to get through it and unlock the main door from the inside so I can get in."

There was silence as Hanna kept her gaze focused on him. "Are you kidding me Caleb? I'm drunk, I can't crawl through that."

"You're not crawling, you're climbing." He shot her a wryly grin.

"Why can't you climb through it and open the door for me?" She pouted, climbing through an old, dusty window hadn't been in the job description.

"I would, if you could lift me up to it, but you can't so I have to lift you up." He rolled his eyes, trying to speed things up. He just wanted to be in and out as quick as possible.

"You've thought about this a lot." She let out a grumble as she placed the bottle down by his feet and took the key from his open hand.

"I had a quiet day," He mumbled back. "Hurry up and get on my shoulders."

"Fine." She muttered, moving to stand behind him, her hands gripping his strong back. "You're gonna have to squat down."

He did as she said, waiting for her to sit on his shoulders before his hands grabbed her thighs to keep her steady and her fingers gripped on to his rough locks . "Stop pulling my hair." He growled up at her as she wobbled slightly, the half drunk bottle of vodka effecting both of their balance.

"I'm gonna fall off." She grumbled back, reaching out to hold onto the window frame for support. "I don't wanna climb through the window." She let out a whine.

"I'm not letting you down until you do." He replied, his thumbs pressing into the jean clad skin on the inside of both thighs as he tried not to think about their current position. Her thighs clenching against his head and the alcohol in his system were definitely not helping though. "Hurry up."

"Fine." She huffed, using her arms to pull herself through as Caleb pushed her from behind, one hand reaching up to support her arse as it left his shoulders. It was all a messy tangle of limbs as she made it through, trying to lower herself to the floor slowly before she lost her balance again and hit the ground with a thud.

"You okay?" She heard Caleb call through the door as she scrambled to her feet and dusted down her jeans.

"No." She scowled back. "My butt hurts."

"Great," Came his uncaring reply. "Now open the door so I can get in."

She nodded, following his instructions as she unlocked the door to let him inside. It surprised her how easy it was breaking into the school, but this was Rosewood after all and before Caleb Rivers arrived there wasn't anyone in the town with a need to break in.

"You have twenty minutes before I get bored and leave." She mumbled at him, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting him a deep frown.

"That's all I need." He replied, letting the door swing shut behind him as he started to stroll down the corridor. "You coming or what?"

"You're welcome." Her eyes rolled as she trailed behind him slowly.

Caleb watched her shuffle after him, her blonde hair all messed up from the window and a deep scowl written across her pretty face that really didn't suit her. "What's up now?" He stopped, waiting for her to catch up with him.

"I want the vodka." She carried on straight past him.

"Here." He held in a chuckle, passing it over before he nudged his shoulder against hers. "Why you being pissy with me?"

"Um because I could be in bed right now, eating food and watching Netflix." She snorted, taking a long gulp. "And instead I'm back in school on a Friday night, and my ass hurts from being dropped through a window."

"I didn't drop you, you fell." He rolled his eyes.

"You weren't holding on to me properly."

"Yes I was."

"So you count your massive head pushing right up my arse as holding on."

"Sorry," He smirked, reaching an arm out to take the bottle. "Don't usually get any complaints about where my massive head goes, guess it was just a tight squeeze."

Hanna's face burned red at his words, her teeth desperately biting down on her lip as she fought to keep her gaze away from his whilst he took a large gulp of alcohol. She didn't know how to reply to that, what to say that wouldn't make it awkward as hell between the two of them as she tried to cover her cheeks with her hair and block out any kind of image from filling her head. "That was a shit apology."

"I can make up for it." His smirk lingered on his lips as he swiftly leant down and captured her lips between his own in a soft kiss. He hadn't missed the blush that spread across her cheeks, bringing out the blue in her eyes. He thought it was cute, but at the same time he hated that she was uncomfortable. She was gorgeous and funny and deserved to be confident enough so that the rest of the world could see it, not just him.

Although right now, he was okay with just him having his lips on her as she finally started to kiss back, a hand squeezing his bicep before she dragged it up to cling on to his hair. "Caleb, we should-" She pulled back, catching her breath and fighting a grin, their mouths still millimetres apart.

But she didn't have time to finish her sentence before he was pressing one last kiss against her lips, taking the delicate skin between his and sucking gently. "We should what?" He teased, his thumb pressing against her hipbone as his finger tips grazed the curve of her ass.

"We should hurry up." She finally took control of herself and lightly pushed his chest back, avoiding his shining, brown eyes. "Come on." Their hands found their way back to each other as set off down the corridor to wherever he needed to be.

* * *

"Who's that?" Caleb let out a murmur as he typed away on the keyboard in the far corner of the schools office.

"Just my mom." Hanna answered, texting back a quick reply before she tucked her phone into her pocket and went back to snooping around whilst Caleb finished up whatever he was doing.

"What did you say?" He arched an eyebrow, his gaze leaving the screen for a few seconds until she replied.

"That I'm out with Mona, she won't mind as long as I keep in touch." Their eyes met and she couldn't help but edge closer to him, perching herself on the plastic arm of the office chair he was sat in.

"She's a bitch. I don't get why you're friends with her." He let out a grumble and rolled his eyes.

"She just acts like that around other people, you don't know her." Hanna told him. "She was there for me after Ali died and all my friends split up."

"Why did you all split up?" Caleb paused what he was doing to look up at her. Alison was a topic they had never really talked about and he guessed it wasn't something she shared easily.

"I don't really know," The blonde let out a long sign. "I think Ali was what brought us all together and after she died we didn't have anything in common anymore. We're still friendly, just not friends."

Caleb nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat as he debated with himself whether he was going to ask his next question. Whether he wanted to know the answer and if it was anything like how he had felt, how he still felt. "What was it like when she died?" His voice came out rougher than usual.

"It was a huge shock for everyone, we always thought Ali was a big girl who could look after herself and then one day we woke up and she was dead." Hanna took a few seconds to reply. "I think my mom reacted worse though,"

"How come?"

"She went into panic mode- I wasn't allowed out in the dark or out on my own. It was stupid."

"What about now? She seems quite relaxed." He asked, taking in the way she kept her gaze low before he reached out for her hand, squeezing the tips of her fingers in his warm hand.

"Yeah, she's just distracted with my dad and all that shit," A sigh left her parted lips. Her mom wasn't her mom right now, she was different and Hanna hated seeing her like this. "She doesn't really do much apart from drink wine and watch movies- I guess it's a good thing though, she's not keeping me locked up anymore."

"I dunno," Caleb sunk back into his chair, a hand running through the front of his hair as he yawned and reached for the vodka on the side. "Parents are just a waste of time if you ask me."

"Well I didn't." She rolled her eyes at him, reaching out and stopping him from taking a second sip so she could steal it from him. "Are you nearly done?"

"Yup." He nodded, leaning forward again before he typed his name into the system, dragging one of the files straight into the trash can.

"You're not going to read it before you delete it?" Hanna asked, looking down at him.

"I know what's on it."

"So why are you deleting it?

"Because of your sweet little friend Mona." He grunted, shutting down the computer once he was done. "And so no one else can read it."

"Why don't you want people to know what it says?" Her voice was quiet but inquisitive as he stood up and took her hand again. He hadn't meant to snap at her, it was just instinct around this topic but that wasn't how he wanted their night to go.

"Why so many questions?" She was shut up with a kiss, one hand holding her waist close to his as her frown faded into a smile. "Let's go." He mumbled against her lips, stealing one more kiss.

"Wait," She stopped him, trying to push down the rising fluttering feeling in her stomach at his words. "You need to leave the keys here."

"But-"

"No buts," She shook her head. "If you need an emergency place to crash you can come to me, you don't need to break into school anymore."

"Fine," He gave in. "But on Monday- we need them to get out of here, the doors lock if they're not propped open."

"Okay," Her arm linked with his as she stumbled slightly, before setting off again back through the schools dark hallways. "We can take a shortcut through the gym, it's quicker." Caleb nodded and let her lead the way. "Don't forget the vodka, I want more."

"I think you've had enough." He rolled his eyes at her, a small smile on his face though as she leant into his side. It seemed to have taken effect on her small body all of a sudden and she was wobbling all over the place as a happy grin settled on her lips.

"Why do I always get drunk before you? She mumbled, her head resting on his shoulder as she thought back to a few nights ago and their first kiss. His lips were so warm and smokey and sweet and she wanted more.

The whole day she had been wearing his hoodie, his smell had lingered around her, wrapping her in comfort and warmth and leaving her craving him more and more. She wanted to feel all of his soft skin, to his skin on her skin. She just wanted more of him.

"Because your a lightweight." He mumbled, a small grin on his face as she slapped his arm.

"I'm not," She rolled her eyes, her body pressing into his side. "I just don't usually mix drinking and breaking into schools, leave all that rebellious behaviour to you."

"Where's the key?" Caleb laughed at her as they pushed through another set of double doors, he expected to be at the front of the school but instead found himself stood in front of the large swimming pool.

"It's a short cut." Hanna explained grabbing his hand as she sensed his apprehension. "Trust me." She handed him the key from her back pocket as they carried on.

"Okay," He nodded, clearing his rough throat.

"The water looks black." Hanna grinned, guiding them closer to the edge so she could put her hands in. "It's so pretty." She squatted down on the side as a tipsy giggle left her lips. "We should go midnight skinny dipping."

Caleb couldn't help but let out a small smile at her words, feeling his shoulders relax a little as he watched her wiggle her eyebrows up at him, the water and moonlight reflecting on her face distracted him from his increasing heart rate before she tried to stand back up, slipping on the wet floor and grabbing onto his legs for stability.

Although that had the opposite effect, catching Caleb by surprise and sending him crashing down into the deep water. Hanna almost let out a laugh, but then panic started to fill her as he disappeared from view in the unlit pool.

"Caleb?" Her voice called out as she kneeled on the side, the water too dark to see him as she started to pull her shoes off to get in. "Caleb!" She screamed, reaching forward to hold out her hand as the top of his head appeared at the surface of the water and then his whole face before he let out a splutter and gripped onto the tiles at the side, his strong arms holding on for dear life.

"Caleb, oh my god, are you okay?" She swallowed nervously as he ignored her helping hand and clambered out on his own, spitting out a mouthful of water onto the side.

He didn't say anything and neither did she as she sat on the side, waiting for his reaction. She didn't know if he'd laugh or shout. "Caleb wait," Her voice was quiet as he once again brushed her off and stormed out of the back doors, water dripping from his long hair and soaked clothes as he disappeared into the empty school, leaving her sat by the pool, all alone and full of questions.

* * *

 **Caleb's wet and not on a good way. Thanks for all your reviews and let me know if you'd like a preview xxx**


	8. Chapter 8

8.

* * *

The darkest night never felt so bright with you by my side...

* * *

Hanna didn't know how long she'd been staring at the dark pool as it gently rippled out into stillness. Her knees and her butt and her hands were all wet, but she couldn't feel it. She hadn't noticed it. All she could think about was Caleb.

Ten minutes she had been sat there, trying to pluck up the courage to go find him. She was scared of his reaction, whether he'd be mad at her or whether he'd pretend he had never met her and leave her locked in school, all alone in the middle of the night.

She wouldn't blame him if he did, but part of her knew he wouldn't.

So, when her nervous teeth ran out of skin on her lip to bite off, she stood up and went in search of him. It wasn't hard, she just followed the trail of water droplets up to a door she had never been through and then up a set of stairs until she reached the roof.

The cool bluster of air made her throat tighten as she slowly closed the door behind her, her eyes settling on the hunched over figure as she moved to sit down next to him.

He didn't look up or look at her as he repeatedly tried to light the cigarette in his mouth, water still dripping from his soaked hair and clothes before he gave up and threw the soggy mix of paper and tobacco at the wall in front of him in anger. He just wanted a smoke so he could breath easy again.

"A-are you okay?" Hanna stuttered, breaking the silence as she looked at him apprehensively, his long tangled hair covering the sides of his face. "I'm sorry about what happened, I didn't mean to-"

"I know." He cut her off, keeping his head low and his voice quiet.

"It was an accident, I -I didn't think you'd fall and-"

"It's fine Hanna." His voice faded out on her name as he ran a hand through his hair, tugging on it firmly to try and distract himself from the tears that wanted to fall from his eyes. For months now he'd been able to hold himself together, he wasn't about to tumble because of a girl.

"No it's not," She swallowed, taking in the strained expression on his face. Almost every night they had approached the edge of this conversation and every time he had shoved her right back. He couldn't keep whatever was eating him up inside forever, he needed to trust her. "You can talk to me, you know?"

"No I can't." He mumbled back, biting on his thumbnail as his knee bounced. He didn't know whether it was his soaking clothes, or the cold night air, the fact that he needed a smoke, or Hanna sat so close to his side, trying to force her way into his life, but he just couldn't sit still.

"You freaked out in the pool and I was scared and I thought you were gonna drown- I didn't know you couldn't swim." She rambled on, trying to get to the bottom of what was destroying him.

"I can swim." His raised his voice before his head dropped again, tiny drips of water trickling from the end of his long hair and onto the concrete below. "I just-" His voice broke, vulnerability seeping through as tears stung his eyes. "I don't do deep water and it was dark and I get nightmares about drowning."

"Why?" Their eyes finally met, her hand pressing into his sweaty palm as she tried to give him some comfort. Part of her wanted to think that it was nothing, that he had been thrown into juvie because of a misunderstanding that had turned him bitter and angry, but she knew it was deeper than that. Whatever it was, it was bringing a teenage boy- who had been though a hell of a lot already- to a shaking terrified state and it almost scared her too. "Caleb, I want to help you but you have to let me in." She smiled and he sniffled, still looking into her caring features. "That file earlier, and the pool and all the police and the tag on your ankle, what happened to you?"

Her hand squeezed his again and he was gone, lost in her pretty blue eyes. And if he was honest with himself, he knew the first night he met her she was going to break him. He'd tried to resist her, whilst keeping her close at the same time, but it didn't work. She was different, she actually cared about him and his feelings and his life. He mattered to her and he wasn't about to ruin it by lying to her, although he wasn't sure the truth would save him either.

"I killed someone."

Her eyes grew wide, her hand still and Caleb knew there was no going back. This was probably the end of whatever they had going on, but it wasn't like it could have gone very far anyway- not without him spilling his guts for her to hear eventually. She was his weakness.

"Oh." Her mouth ran dry as she tried to take back control of her face. "W-who and how and.." She just looked at him, lips squeezed shut as she waited for him to explain.

He sighed, brushing her hand away from his before he rubbed his eyes and carried on. "Before I went to juvie I lived in a foster home with this old woman for like three years- she was actually one of the better people I've been put with, but I walked all over her." He admitted as his gaze went back to the dark sky and the stars above them.

"When I was there I made friends with the kid next door, Liam, his dad had died and his mum was broke but he always smiled." His voice broke slightly and Hanna watched a tear run halfway down his cheek before he quickly wiped it away. "He was just a happy person and he was fucking funny," He chuckled, wiping away another few tears.

"What happened?" Hanna asked, wrapping her arms around her knees as she looked at him apprehensively.

"We started getting into trouble and messing around with people we shouldn't have. Liam got a girlfriend, Rena, and then one night we stole a car. Me and Liam in the front and Rena in the back and we were drunk and stoned and I was racing it around town and then I lost control and it went over a bridge and into a river."

"Were you all in it?" Hanna asked nervously.

He nodded. "Me and Liam didn't have our seat-belts on so we broke a window and got out easily, but Rena had hers on and she couldn't get out so Liam stayed back to try and help her." She swallowed a lump in her throat as he carried on.

"I swam up to the surface to see if someone had seen us and to take a breath so I could go help get Rena out but when I went back under the car was sinking and I-I panicked and I couldn't breath." He kept his arms limply by his side as the images he was trying so hard to block out, haunted his memory. "I just froze in the water."

"Did they both die?" Her voice was a whisper as she bit her lip. Part of her didn't want to know, but the other part was desperate to understand.

"Rena got out in time but Liam drowned." He pushed away more tears from his wet cheeks. "They pulled his body out three days later."

"God Caleb..." She frowned as she tried to take in all this new information. She didn't know what to say. "It wasn't your fault." Was her weak reply, and by his reaction she guessed he'd heard it all before.

"It was," He nodded, his lips pale and lacking any emotion. "I was driving and we'd been drinking and smoking pot and I should've gone back down to help Rena, it would've been quicker with us both getting her out and then Liam wouldn't have died."

"You can't do that Caleb, you can't guess at what would have happened if you had done something different." She shook her head, hoping to make him feel better but he shut her down immediately.

"Watch me." He grunted, before rubbing his tired eyes as he came back to his senses and edged away from her a little, his boot kicking at the ground as he wished he could rewind the whole day so she wouldn't know.

"What happened after that?" She asked softly. "What about his Mum and Rena?"

"I took full responsibility," Caleb answered in a hoarse voice. "His mum didn't wanna know me for ages and by the time they had a funeral and she tried to speak to me I was locked up in juvie."

"So you didn't get to go?"

He shook his head again, giving up holding back any more tears as he just let them fall. He hadn't cried properly in months, not since his first night in the cell when he had cried himself into the morning, for every mistake he made, for every mistake social services made putting him with someone who couldn't control him and for the consequences of that.

"What did you get charged with?" Hanna asked, her eyes unconsciously shifting to his boot-clad ankle.

She was slightly taken aback when a bitter chuckle left his lips. "Underaged drinking, car theft and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol."

"But-"

He shook his head before she could get another word out. "The authorities didn't want a big scandal about a kid in care causing the death of another kid so they completely ignored the fact that Liam was dead and only locked me up for nine months."

"So they covered it up?"

"Not entirely- the whole town knew he had died and that it was an accident but it wasn't linked to me. I think they must have paid his mum and Rena off, no ones ever questioned it I guess."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence for a while, Caleb once again letting his thoughts and his guilt cover his head like a chain-metal blanket trying to drag him to the ground and Hanna just too afraid to ask the million more questions she had.

She had question after question sitting on the edge of her tongue but after watching the way the familiar glow of his eyes faded she decided it would be best to ignore them. He had started out hopeful, as though this time he was telling the story the outcome would be different. But it wasn't and she watched the light physically fade from them.

Those eyes, those beautiful brown orbs had seen so much already in his short life, they've seen abandonment and abuse and death. Now they were just blank.

They had sat slouched on the roof, staring at the stars in the sky as their breath became visible in the air until Hanna noticed Caleb's shivering body and cleared her throat.

"We should get out of here, it's late." She rubbed her palms against her upper arms to try and keep some heat in as she watched him run a hand through his hair and bite his lip.

"We can't." He murmured. "The key was in my hand, it's probably at the bottom of the pool-"

"Wait so we're stuck here all weekend?!" Hanna raised her voice as she started to panic. They couldn't spend the whole weekend locked in school, her mom would have a heart attack.

"No, tomorrow morning the cleaners come in." He explained with a shrug. "We can sneak out then."

"So we have to sleep here? In school?" She pouted, making a move towards the door to get back inside and away from the bitter air. "Where did you sleep when you stayed here?"

"Principles couch is comfy enough." He grumbled a reply as he shot past her, leaving her the follow behind him as she let out a huff and closed the door behind her.

Slowly, they made their way through the dark school to the Principals office that Caleb seemed to never get away from. They both stripped of their wet clothes, Hanna just shedding her damp jeans before she turned around to find Caleb in his boxers.

She bit her lip guilty as he tossed his soggy cigarettes and ruined phone onto the table in front before he grabbed the blanket from the back of the leather sofa and made himself comfy at one end, closing his eyes and trying to block her out.

She sighed, taking his damp clothes from the floor and laying them across the windowsill in hope of getting them dry before she peeled back the corner of the blanket and huddled into her side of the sofa.

Almost half an hour passed and she couldn't fall asleep. It was cold and quiet and the blanket only really covered her legs that were tucked up into her chest before she felt something prodding her side and her tired eyes lifted to meet with Caleb's. He looked at her for a few seconds before he blinked and let out a grunt. "Come here if your cold."

She hesitated, wondering if he was going to take the opportunity to get revenge somehow before deciding that he still looked pretty shaken up by his confession and crawled up to his side of the principles black sofa.

His arms opened and so did the blanket as he pulled her against him and her body instantly froze as it came into contact with his naked chest. Hanna lay there statically and uncomfortably until he rolled his eyes at her again and wrapped his arm around her waist, tucking the blanket around them both at the same time.

Her hand came to rest on his warm skin as she relaxed into his side and let out a sigh against his neck. "I'm sorry," She whispered, guilt running through her body. She never meant for him to fall in the pool. "About everything- what I did and... what happened to you."

His head shook as she watched his eyes close painfully before he swallowed and pursed his lips. She could never imagine living with a secret like that let alone living with the guilt of it, but now everything about him made sense. They way he shuts people out and keeps distance from anyone who tries to pry into his life, not wanting them to find out the reason he went to juvie and the reason he's spent most of his life alone.

"It's okay," She whispered again, settling her head back into his neck and sensing that he didn't want to talk about it. "I just wanted to say sorry." He already told her so much on the roof of the school and she didn't want to pressure him to tell her anymore if he didn't want to. Plus, she hadn't exactly been helpful, she just didn't know what to say or how to help him and ended up sounding like a generic bitch that lacked any knowledge in emotions. So instead of speaking she closed her eyes and cuddle up closer to his warm body, silently letting him know that she was there if he needed her. Tonight he wasn't alone. "Night."

"Night." A weak reply came back as once again Hanna shut her eyes and was submerged by the darkness.

* * *

 **Sooooo now you all know what happened to Mr Rivers, I wanna know what you thinkkkkkk?**

 **Thank you for all the review and let me know if you'd like a preview coz I actually have one ready for the first time in forever. Xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

9.

* * *

We could be King and Queen of the moonlight, two young lovers and when the moods right...

* * *

A long sigh left Hanna's parted, pink lips as she tried to drown out the stupid pop music that was blaring out from Mona's car radio. She watched as her breath became visible against the cold window she was leaning on and tiny water droplets formed as the streets passed by in a blur.

"Come on Han, smile," Mona grinned across at her excitedly. "We're going to a party, our first high school party, why aren't you smiling?"

"I am," She took a second to swallow before she replied with a forced smile, tugging down on the stripy red dress she had on.

"Good, I'm not having you whining like a little virgin all night and ruining this for me." The brunette rolled her eyes, focusing back on the road, her sharp nails tapping the leather steering wheel.

"I haven't even said anything." Hanna looked at her defensively.

"Exactly." Was the reply she got. "But you've got the 'I'm feeling sorry for myself' eyes on and you're staring out the window like you're in a movie where your lover boy has been murdered by your rich daddy."

Hanna just stared at her for a few seconds wondering what exactly went on in her devious mind before she gave up and went back to the window.

In some cases Mona was right. It had been a week. A long, draining week that had been made even slower by the lack of Caleb Rivers she experienced in it.

Ever since they snuck out of school bright and early last Saturday morning she had barely seen him. He had walked her home in silence and then disappeared to wherever he hung around in the day, his clothes still damp and his eyes still dark.

A few times in the week their eyes had met in corridors or classrooms and she had shot him a small smile, only to have it returned with an almost painful grimace. They hadn't spoken once, they hadn't met up at midnight once- although Hanna waited every night, half expecting to hear the sound of a stone against her window and see the faint trail of smoke outside it.

The thing that was getting to her the most though was that she couldn't work out who was avoiding who. She knew she definitely wasn't going out of her way to run into him at school or even to call round to his house, but she still smiled at him, and if he aproached her first she'd have no problem talking to him. She was just too afraid to be the first one to break their silence.

After everything that had happened last Friday in the pool and on the roof she was scared that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She wouldn't blame him- he had unwillingly told her something she knew only a few select people knew, he had let her in on probably the worst part of his life, the worst thing he had ever done and she knew how much it was effecting him.

The whole night on the principles sofa she had slept soundly in his arms and yet when she woke up he hadn't moved an inch, his eyes still staring blankly at the celling before she poked his arm and broke him from his trance.

She sighed again, her head resting in her hand until a figure caught her eyes outside. She had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't just making him up in her head before she leant forward in her seat. "Stop," She muttered, Mona shooting her a questioning look before she reluctantly stopped the car.

"Why?"

"Just wait here, I'll be back in a minute." The door was clicked open and slammed shut within seconds as she climbed out and headed for Caleb, who was sprawled out on a bench having a smoke. "Hi."

He looked up and she was transported back to the first night she spoke to him, it was so similar yet so different at the same time.

"Hi."

His blunt reply reminded her why she'd been avoiding him the last week. His eyes were darker and lingered on the ground and it made her uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say to him. It was like he was expecting her to run away from him, daring her to scream at him that he was a murderer and a dangerous person, completely shutting down, walls of concrete building up and leaving her locked outside in the cold.

She wasn't scared of him though, she knew him and she knew that she'd regret it all night- all year, if she walked away now. She still didn't know what to say so instead she took a seat beside him, her fingers curling around his arm and holding on. "I'm sorry."

"You haven't done anything wrong." He mumbled, blowing out a puff of smoke away from her face as he tried to ignore the way her fingers were touching his arm through his jacket.

"I have," She looked at him. "I was avoiding you and I don't know why and I didn't mean-"

"Hanna, it's fine." There was a faint trace of a smile on his lips as her eyes scanned his face. He had dark bags clinging to the skin under his eyes and his hood was pulled up over his long tangles of hair as he breathed out smokey breaths. He was a mess but he was happy to see her again.

It was only now as she sat next to him, their bodies pressed together and his familiar cigarette scent in the air that she realised how much she had missed him. His face and his deep, mysterious voice. "Come on," She took his hand in hers, standing up and squeezing his fingers. "We're going to a party and you're gonna come and have fun with me."

"Who's we?"

"Me and Mona." Hanna rolled her eyes, already knowing what his reply would be.

"Nope."

"Please?" She begged. "I've never been to one before and I know Mona's gonna leave me to dance with some boy as soon as we get there and I'm just gonna be stood there like a loner."

He stared at her for a few seconds, taking in her stripy red dress and denim jacket before he shook his head again. "No."

"Free alcohol?" Hanna gave in, tugging on his fingers one more time as she watched his head raise with interest.

"Fine." He pushed himself up. "But I'm coming for the free drinks," He added before smirking. "And so we can be loners together."

"Good." She grinned, dragging him back over to Mona's car before she climbed back in the front.

"Why is he-"

"Shh." Hanna cut her off with a hand to the face as Caleb got in the back seats. "Let's just go before all the vodka is gone."

* * *

Mona hadn't questioned it any further as they pulled up outside the house that was bustling with drunk teenagers. Hanna knew she was pissed but she'd kept quiet, knowing that if she didn't she'd be entering the party alone and that would only take her right back to her loser Mona days.

Hanna stuck by Caleb as they headed inside, his scent overpowering her and drawing her closer as they made their way into the dark house, Mona first- all but skipping through the door in her tight skirt and heals with Caleb trailing behind her, his jacket handing off his body as he kept his cool demeanour up and headed straight to the alcohol at the back of the living room.

"You've been left." He murmured before she frowned and noticed Mona had disappeared into the crown to mingle straight away, just like she'd predicted.

"Guess I'm stuck with you then." She smiled, watching him grab two cups and pour a mix of drinks into them both, one with more alcohol than the other. He knew she was a lightweight and he wanted to be on the same level of drunk as her tonight, even if it meant they both stumbled around and passed out by midnight. He was beyond caring anymore.

She took the drink from him and moved to stand against a wall, simply watching everyone dancing and making out as she took slow sips from it.

Caleb bit his lip as he watched her, her eyes slowly glazing over until they were an electric shade of blue and absorbing all his attention. He knew he'd missed her the past week and it was kinda driving him crazy, but he hadn't realised just how much he missed her until she was stood in front of him again. Her hands were soft and her smile gentle and then he had seen what she was wearing. The cotton dress was short and clung to her butt and he just wanted to touch her through it as it scraped at the top of her thighs and teased him with her pale skin.

A slight blush spread across Hanna's cheeks as she noticed the way he was staring at her, his eyes running up and down as they both edge closer to each other. The alcohol and the week spent apart and the atmosphere of the party was all boiling up and it wasn't long before her arms were around his neck and their lips were joint in drunk, sloppy kisses.

His hands held her waist loosely as their lips continued to press together, one hand starting to wander down his sides and up his t-shirt, running along the smooth muscles, her thumb stroking his skin softly as his tongue roughly pushed agains her's.

The red plastic cup was still held in Hanna's firm grip between her chest and Caleb's as she pushed herself up on to her tiptoes and touched his tongue with hers in the far corner of the dark living room.

His smokey taste filled her mouth as he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other splayed across the back of her thigh, his fingers dragging along the smooth skin before they disappeared under the hem of her dress.

A sharp breath caught in her throat as he let out a low groan, his hands touching and squeezing every inch of her round ass before he took the hem of her panties in between his fingers.

She squeezed his side in response and sank back against the wall as he brought his knee up to press between her legs, her head spinning with all the new feelings. She had no idea what she was doing so she let him take control and simply clung onto his body as he lead her into another kiss.

"Are you sure?" He breathed out, pulling away to catch his breath. He didn't want to do something she wasn't ready for, something she didn't want to do with him, here and now.

Her eyes shot up to his, teeth biting down on her lip nervously before she concentrated on the feeling of his hand burning her skin and nodded. "I want you."

And she did.

She wanted him more than she'd wanted anything. More than she cared that anyone could see them right now. More than she cared that she was drunk and so was he and they probably wouldn't remember anything tomorrow.

A gasp left her throat as his thumb grazed over her clit, their intoxicated breaths combining as her nails dug into his sides, the empty cup in her hand falling to their feet so she could wrap her free arm around his neck as he slipped a finger inside of her and she gasped all over again.

He smirked, kissing the corner of her lips and then moving down to kiss her jawline and then her neck as he moved his finger in and out of her, watching as her eyes dropped closed and her lips squeezed together, desperate to hold back any weird sounds.

He didn't think it was obvious what they were doing until a couple of seniors walked past them, one of them grinning and reaching out to slap his shoulder encouragingly as Hanna's eyes flew open again.

Her hand reached down to pull him out of her as she bit down on her lip again and blushed. He had to hold back another groan as his finger slipped out of her and he took in the cute expression on her face, imagining what his dick would feel like inside her before he realised how hard he actually was.

If she wanted to stop now then he was okay with it but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to at least offer to give her more. His fingers went back to stoking her thigh as he kissed her cheek and mumbled into her ear. "Upstairs?"

It took her a few seconds to process what he meant and before she knew what she was doing, her head was nodding and he was dragging her up the stairs and into one of the dark bedrooms.

They started kissing again, hands back to roaming each other's bodies as he let his green jacket fall to the floor and then shed his t-shirt too, pushing her back against the closed door as she trailed a hand down his tanned abs.

She felt so small in comparison to his height and his defined- but not too defined- muscles, yet at the same time she felt powerful. She felt pulled towards him, just like he was pulled towards her. She wanted him and he wanted her and even though he was guiding her through it she felt a wave of confidence wash over her.

Their lips broke apart momentarily as she quickly got rid of her denim jacket and heels, her height dropping even more against his before he distracted her with his big, warm hands, trailing up her body and dragging her dress over her head until she was left in her underwear.

Everything after that was a blur for the both of them. They somehow made it over to the unmade, single bed in the middle of the room, Caleb guiding her to lie back before he got rid of the last of his clothes and covered her body with his.

Her core started tingling again the second his bare dick brushed against her thigh as she shoved his boxers down his legs, her hands rubbing against his ass cheeks before she brought them back up to hold onto his back.

Their eyes connected, his searching for permission and her's begging him to take it. He knew she was a virgin so he knew he had to be gentle, easing two fingers deep inside her again as he leant down to kiss the top of her boobs that were spilling out of her black bra.

And then she let out a quiet moan and Caleb almost lost it. He could feel how wet and how hot and tight she was and he was sliding her pale, pink panties over her arse and down her legs before he came on the spot.

A fire was bubbling deep inside his belly as he grabbed his cock and brought it to her entrance, watching her every move as he pushed inside her, breaking through her wall and filling her up.

She swallowed a gasp, the vein in her forehead twitching with pain as her eyes slammed shut and he let her adjust. His hands gripped either side of her hips, his thumbs brushing over her hip bones until she swallowed another lump and nodded her head.

He followed her instructions, the mattress creaking under them as he pulled out and pushed in again, his head falling against the pillow by the side of hers as he grunted into her ear. She felt so fucking good around him, better than anyone before.

He thrust into her again, this time slower than before and her face started to relax, her hands still grabbing firmly on to his hair as she wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him on.

He picked up his pace with every movement, groaning into her ear as her expression of pain turned to one of pleasure and tiny little moans started leaving her parted lips, bringing him closer and closer to the edge.

It wasn't long until she felt the same. The same burning in her stomach and the same feeling washing over her as she lost control, tightening around him and panting into his shoulder.

It took every last restraint Caleb had to quickly pull out, his hand only stroking his dick once before he came in his hand and collapsed on top of her, a smirk buried in her neck.

It was like their roles were reversed as they both caught their breath back; Caleb taking turn to let Hanna lead him as she stroked his back comfortingly and encouraged him to roll on to his side so she could see his face. He didn't know what to do after sex other than leave, but with Hanna he wanted that to change.

"You okay?" He asked with a hoarse, raspy voice.

"I'm good." She breathed, her hand coming up to tuck a peice of hair behind his ear as the other wrapped around his neck. "Really good."

There was a trace of a smile on her lips that only grew as he let her lean forward and kiss him on the forehead. And when she pulled back there was this look in his eyes that she hasn't seen this intense before. It was like a mix of desire and want and something stronger than like. Something he probably thought he was incapable of.

"I'm tired." She yawned, leaning back against the pillow, her head resting over his heart as the alcohol started to wear off, making her sloppy and sleepy and oblivious to the way his body started to tense up under her as she closed her eyes.

She couldn't fall asleep on him, he couldn't fall asleep with her- not here, not now. He pushed himself up onto his elbow, one hand still holding onto her as she mumbled something into his chest and the music echoed from downstairs.

"I think I'm falling for you."

His body froze, his hairs standing on end as he shook his head. "No," He muttered. "No." He pulled himself from underneath her, letting her body drop to the hard mattress and jolting her awake. "You can't. And you can't fall asleep."

Hanna looked up at him confused as he rifled through the tangled bedsheets to find his boxers. She felt naked all of a sudden and exposed so she stood up too and pulled her panties back up. "What's wrong?" She was almost afraid of the answer as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Nothing." He answered shortly. "I shouldn't have fucked you, that's all. You should leave."

"But-"

"No Hanna." He shook his head once, meeting her eye with a hard glare. She wasn't going to change his mind. "Just leave me alone."

She nodded, her eyes welling with tears and confusion as she tried to hold them back before she threw her dress back over herself, picking up her jacket and heals before she slammed the door behind herself and started to cry.

* * *

 **Thank you for the reviews, I love them and you. Xxx**

 **Preview? Let me know. Xxx**


	10. Chapter 10

10.

* * *

Before we started it was over, I feel our bodies getting colder, she's got me running from the daylight...

* * *

The sound of the door slamming behind her made Hanna's body jump and she took a deep breath to recompose herself, her shoulders rising and falling and rising and falling, again and again, until she realised she was crying.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks, all black and clumpy, as she desperately tried to wipe them away. Her head was spinning and there was a strange pain deep in her chest that was almost dragging her hand back to the door handle.

But his words echoed in her head as she debated whether he really wanted to be left alone, whether she wanted to leave him alone before a loud bang from inside the room startled her and she stepped back.

Maybe she didn't know Caleb as well as she thought she did. Maybe she had only seen one side of him the past two weeks and now the other side was starting to pierce through.

After one more wipe at her cheeks she pulled her denim jacket on and slipped into her shoes, wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible before a voice called her name.

"Hanna! What are you doing up here?" Mona's voice asked as she let out a smirk.

Hanna glanced over to the top of the stairs where she was stood with Sean and Noel before she sighed, knowing there was no way around them. "I was just looking for a bathroom."

"Really?" The brunette grinned as Hanna took a seat on the first step and she joined her. "Because your hair is a mess and you smell like sex."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Noel teased as he took a sip from his drink.

"No one." Hanna swallowed, her arms wrapping around her knees as her eyes welled with tears again at the thought of him.

"Are you okay Hanna?" Sean frowned as he notice her tears and the make up stains from before.

"I'm fine." She choked out, looking down and hoping her hair blocked her face from their prying eyes. She tried taking more deep breaths as more tears fell, desperate to hold it all in until she was alone.

"Wait," Mona's eyes flared and she placed her hand on Hanna's bare knee, trying to get her to look up so she could look her in the eye. "He didn't force it did he?" She swallowed nervously. "You're a lightweight, you get drunk easily and he could've taken advantage of you." She thought out loud, panic rising before she saw Hanna shake her head.

"No, no I wanted it and we were both drunk but I promise he asked and I wanted to have sex with him." She blurted out all at once, hoping they believed her. She didn't want them to think he was something he wasn't.

"Are you sure? You look pretty shaken up?" Sean asked her with a frown.

"I'm sure." She answered firmly. "It was after, I said something I probably shouldn't have and he got mad and kicked me out."

"But who was it?" Noel probed again.

"Caleb." Mona sighed before Hanna even had the chance to pull her chapped lips apart.

"How did you-"

"Oh come on Hanna, I'm your best friend- I've seen the way you look at him and you practically dragged him here earlier." Mona replied, a hint of something in her eyes Hanna had never seen before.

"Caleb," Noel frowned as he tried to put a name to a face. "The juvie guy, he stole your phone didn't he?" He slapped Sean's chest once with the back of his hand.

"He didn't steal it, I just had to pay extra to get it back." He replied. "Well it wasn't even extra, it was what he asked in the first place and-"

"That's irrelevant." Mona snapped up at him to shut him up before she focused back on Hanna again. "Why did he get mad at you?"

"Because.." Hanna trailed off, tugging her lip between her teeth and resting her chin on her knee.

Mona sighed impatiently and reached up to yank the red cup out of Noel's hand, handing it to Hanna and encouraging her to take a drink, eager to know more about Caleb. "Because what?"

"I don't know," The blonde mumbled, wiping her mouth as she sipped on the straight vodka, her head steady spinning again. "I just- I started to fall asleep and then- I think he's messed up in the head."

"Couldn't agree more." Noel snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No- no not in a mean way." Hanna shook her head. "I mean like- he's been in care his whole life and everyone just left him and, and he killed someone and it can't not mess with his head and he's just angry and, and.."

She trailed off as she took in the open-mouth expressions on all three of there faces, panic rising as she tried to trace what she had just said to them in her head before Mona answered her silent question. "He killed someone?" She almost looked excited until her face screwed up. "Eww you lost your v to a murderer."

"No," Hanna shook her head, more desperate tears welling in her eyes and she tried to take back her words. She hadn't meant to tell anyone, she hadn't meant to phrase it like that. "He's not a murderer, he just thinks he is. It was an accident, it wasn't his fault."

"What was an accident?" Sean questioned.

"He stole a car with his friend and a girl and they were drunk and high and he drove it into a river and his friend died and now Caleb thinks he killed him." She was almost sobbing as she tried to explain what had happened without incriminating Caleb. He didn't deserve for people to know, she decided as her chest heaved with guilt. He was a good person.

"But he still killed a guy." The dark haired boy looked at her like it was obvious. "It was his fault."

"But he's not a murderer." Hanna shot back at Noel, trying to wipe her cheeks dry for the third time that night. "He's just been through a lot."

"So that's why he went to juvie?" Mona nodded to herself as Hanna's head fell into her hands. She just rolled her eyes ever so slightly and placed a palm on her friends back for comfort as she covered her face from all of them.

* * *

Only a few minutes after the bedroom door had been slammed shut, it opened again and two brooding, brown eyes stepped out.

Caleb swallowed as he rounded the corner, his t-shirt and jacket hanging from his palm as he tried to brush away the blood that was leaking out of his knuckles. He could hear voices, her voice and when he reached the top of the stairs his breathing quickened.

They were all staring at him.

Noel and Sean standing against the banister and Mona and Hanna sat on the top step, the blonde trying wipe away her running make up as she bit her lip guilty and looked up at him. All their eyes were wide, holding an expression he had seen so many times before. In his social workers eyes, his old foster mum, his new foster mum, the whole court room, the whole town.

He hated it.

It made him feel sick. It made him just want to disappear, to take Liam's place and be the cold corpse yanked out of the river with blue lips and grey skin.

His eyes met Hanna's again and she lowered her head, expecting him to start shouting at her, to explode and start punching her for telling everyone his secret. She knew he knew what she had done from the expression on his face but she hadn't meant to, it all just came running out of her mouth and the alcohol and the tears and the throbbing between her legs numbed her mouth and muddled her brain so she had no idea what she was saying.

He didn't look mad though, as he let out a sigh and swallowed a lump in his throat, lowering his gaze. He just looked disappointed and hurt, really hurt, like there was a hand reaching into his chest, nails piercing his skin and dragging his heart out of his body.

"Caleb," She sniffled as he stepped past her, tugging on his t-shirt and jacket before he pulled it out of her grip. "Wait I-"

"What?" He looked at her, his eyebrows joining together in fake sympathy. "You didn't mean to?" His voice was mocking and cold and the smack to the face she needed to sober up.

He didn't wait for a reply before he headed down the stairs again, Hanna scrambling to her feet to follow him through the house. "Why are you walking away? What about everything before in the bedroom and-"

"We had sex Hanna." He stated. "Once. It doesn't make us soulmates."

"That was mean." She whispered as she caught up with him outside the front door.

"Yeah? Well so was telling those three dicks things that you had no right to share." His voice started to rise as his tanned shoulders moved up and down on the dark, empty street.

"I'm sorry." She lowered her gaze, the loud music coming from inside almost drowning out her voice. "I don't know what happened, I just, I was talking and my brain couldn't keep up and I'm sorry." She started to cry again and Caleb knew she had drank too much tonight.

In the short time he had known her, he knew the real her. He knew she wasn't the type of person to cry over every situation, instead trying to fix whatever was making her cry, solve the problem and save her tears for her pillow at night. "Stop crying."

"What?" She looked up at him through her ruined make up as she wiped her nose.

"Stop." He watched the way she took a deep breath, and then a shallow one and another shallow one, her face falling and turning green before she hunched over and emptied her stomach onto the pavement at her feet. "Nice." He mumbled, tucking his hands into the pocket of his jeans as he waited for her to finish.

"Thanks." She muttered sarcastically once she was done, wiping her mouth and running a hand through her messy hair.

He rolled his eyes as he watched her body start to shiver and she stood there awkwardly before he shoved his jacket at her and turned back around. "I guess I should take you home."

"I can take myself home." She frowned at him.

"But this way I get to listen to your whiny voice for another ten minutes."

"Why are you being like this?" She raised her voice as she made no efforts to follow him.

"Like what?"

"Like you don't know me." She whispered. "Like I'm just some stupid bitch you used to get laid. It's not fair Caleb, and it hurts."

"You wanna know what's not fair?" He shouted at her, his eyes so dark against his skin. "That you just opened your mouth and ruined every chance I had at an okay life here. I told you everything about the crash because I trusted you and the second I shut you out you ran off and spilled all my shit to the first people you came across." His hand pushed his hair back furiously and his fist clenched and his knuckles stung. "So maybe it is my fault for kicking you out of the room or even for telling you in the first place, but it's something I'm gonna have to live with forever and something you can walk away from whenever you want."

"What do you mean?" She looked up at him, eyes wide with fear.

"I can't stay here now they know." He sighed as the reality of the situation hit him. He had no choice. "I was only back with my old foster mom a week after getting out of juvie when they put a brick through the window and petrol through the letter box so I got shipped here and everything's gonna start again."

"I can help you." Hanna's weak reply came as she stepped closer to him, her guilty fingers reaching out to touch his burning skin. "I can make Mona and Sean and Noel swear not to tell anyone about it."

"What makes you think half the house doesn't know already?" He muttered, his eyes lingering on the building in front before he pulled out a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth and lit up.

"It's not like where you lived before Caleb, you won't get bricks through your window and death threats." She stepped even closer to him, her hand on his waist trying to offer him some comfort. "And even if you do we can get the police involved- you've done your time in juvie, they can help you."

"The police in this town walk around with their heads shoved up each other's arses." He grunted, blowing out smoke through the whole in his chest as he tried to ignore her smooth finger tips, dragging along his skin like silk. "And I'm not scared of death threats, the people here are too pussy to actually do anything like that." He pursed his lips. "They'll just talk about me and spit down at me from their highchairs filled with money like I'm a piece of shit on the sidewalk."

Hanna just let out a long sigh at that, knowing he was speaking nothing but the truth. She wished he was wrong but he had this town sussed out perfectly in his head. "I'm sorry Caleb." Her fingers wrapped around his bicep, holding him close as she begged him to forgive her.

He looked down and their eyes met, brown meeting blue as he gave in and gave her a small nod. "I know." He swallowed, his eyes dropping down to her lips as they edged closer to his, her gentle breath against his cheek before he pulled back and stepped away from her.

He wasn't going to be drawn in by those lips again, he'd loose control and end up flinging her panties down her legs in the middle of the street or against the cold, hard ground. He quickly blocked that image out of his head before his blood had chance to move south and finally tugged on his t-shirt.

Hanna watched the way his muscles tensed and relaxed again as he lifted it over his head whilst she pulled his jacket on and rolled up the sleeves slightly.

They were quiet- silent- as she chewed on her lip and they started to walk again. Caleb taking long drags as she walked by his side until their fingers brushed against each other and he grabbed her hand again.

A smile of relief spread across her face, drawing her closer to him until she was cuddled into his side, their joined hands swinging gently between them as she traced over a rough patch of skin. "What did you do to your hand?" She frowned as she took in his bloody knuckles.

"I punched a wall." He mumbled a response.

"Great," She rolled her eyes. "Some poor kid has a your baby juice in his bed sheets and a hole in his walls."

"Lucky bastard." Caleb shrugged letting out a small chuckled as he squeezed her hand, the cold air and her soft touch numbing his stinging skin.

"Idiot." She laughed at him, her head leaning on his shoulder as they walked, her mind wandering back to what they were doing an hour ago, less than an hour ago; it seemed so crazy and rushed and yet she wanted more.

The feeling of his skin on her skin, his mouth on her mouth and him inside her. Between her legs started to burn again before a sigh left her lips and she remembered how he oh so politely shoved her out of the room. "Why did you kick me out?" Her voice was soft as she looked up at him through her clumped eyelashes.

He didn't reply, only shook his head and squeezed her hand tighter as they reached the edge of her street, letting her know she wasn't going to find out tonight. "I'm sorry for that." He mumbled,

"It okay." She nodded, stopping on the road to wrap her arms around him fully. "I'm sorry about everything, I never meant for this to happen." Her head buried against his chest as she prayed that he wasn't mad at her anymore and she squeezed him tighter when he brushed his nose over her forehead.

"Doesn't matter now." He shrugged, his lips hesitantly pressing against her forehead before they both pulled back.

"All we do is apologise." She sniffled with a small smile.

"All we do is fuck up." He smiled back, his hands cupping her cheeks as he brought her face closer to his for a soft kiss.

"Walk me to my gate?" She asked and he nodded, taking her hand again as they took the few steps they needed to get there but something caught her eye as they got closer and she frowned.

"What?" He followed her gaze curiously to find another car parked on the drive, right next to her mothers. "Who's car is that?"

"My dads." She swallowed, clinging on to him tighter before they made eye contact and she knew she had to go. "Here." She passed him his jacket as she pulled it off. "I still have your black hoodie somewhere."

"Keep it." He nodded, watching as she un-latched the white gate. They simply stared at each other for a few seconds, taking in all their features until she pursed her lips.

"Tomorrow night, midnight?" She looked up at him hopefully but his eyes just clouded over with darkness and he let out a sigh.

"I don't think so."

That was all he said as he turned on his heals and disappeared into the night leaving Hanna to make her way into her house alone.

It was quiet as she unlocked the front door and headed through to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She frowned again though, as she spotted two empty glasses of wine on the counter and swallowed the dread and anger inside before heading up to her room, knowing it was the safest place to be if her dad was back to banging her mom.

* * *

 **Oops Hanna u nob.**

 **I was going to update hb3 because the next chapter is kinda christmassy but I dunno this story just seems to just flow out of me easier but anyway Happy Christmas, let** **me know what you think and if you'd like a preview. Xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

11.

* * *

These stars defy love, so I close my eyes and sleep inside your worn-in bed outline...

* * *

Hanna sighed and wiped away the stray tear that had fallen down her cheek as she lay on her bed, staring up at the celling, just thinking.

It made it easier to think now the house was back to being quiet. The silence she had hated so much a few weeks ago had returned, it was different, but it was back and so she spent most of her time curled up on her bed, or wandering around her bedroom aimlessly.

She didn't like going downstairs and having to pretend to the two people who should know her more than anyone. Having to pretend that she was happy her dad had come running back when his latest secretary dumped him, having to pretend that it all wasn't going to end again as soon as her dad got bored and found someone else, someone younger and more gullible to fuck.

She'd tried to warn her Mom, reminding her of how big of a mess he made last time he left and how it was only going to happen again but the red-head had just changed the subject, ignoring her daughters fears and leaving her to only guess why her parents were pretending like the years of cheating and shouting and lying had never happened.

She had given up after that and decided to stay out of their way and let them make their own mistakes whilst she wrapped herself up in her duvet and his tatty hoodie, trying to bring herself some comfort, even though it only upset her more.

Again, she had let another week pass without seeing him- not even in the corridors or classrooms. There were rumours swirling around Rosewood High that he had skipped town, on top of the ones that he was a killer, a murderer, a danger to the town.

She knew Mona was using her master-manipulating skills on Sean and Noel without even speaking to the bitch since she left her on the stairs to follow Caleb out of the party last week. Her name was nowhere to be heard in any of the twisted stories seeping through the town. No one knew she slept with the psycho killer, let alone ever even talked to him- saving her reputation and more importantly Mona's. She couldn't be friends with someone who was friends with the towns reject.

It wasn't what Hanna ever wanted- to be popular, it was what Mona wanted and being her best friend she couldn't have ever allowed her actions to cause the brunette to sink down into looser Mona again. They were in this together, until Caleb was thrown in the mix and her feelings for him were stronger than the bond she had with Mona after only a week of knowing him. He was different than everyone else, she trusted him and she was the only person he had trusted to tell his secret which had meant so much to her, until she ended up blabbing it to the word in her drunk, upset state.

She couldn't blame Mona for it all though, she was just desperate not to be a looser again, to be noticed and liked and never feel worthless ever again. And she guessed she had too but now she realised that in the real world all that didn't matter.

Outside of Rosewood there wasn't groups of people based off their popularity or how they dressed, people were just themselves and made friends with who they wanted to be friends with and ignored everyone else. People fell in love with who they wanted to fall in love with, who they shared a deep connection with no matter how different they were.

It was all just attention seeking. She hadn't seen it at the start but now it was crystal clear and she had no idea how other people didn't see it too, or maybe they did and just chose to ignore it. Either way Hanna was done fighting for popularity and done caring what other people thought about her, apart from Caleb.

"Hanna," There was a knock on the door before her mum stepped inside, dressed in a tight dress and pointed heels. "Your dads taking me out for dinner, I've left money on the side so you can order takeout."

She nodded, trying to wipe away any trace of tears from her cheeks before she sat up.

"Are you okay baby?" Ashley frowned with concern, stepping further into the room and perching on the edge of the bed. "Why don't you invite Mona around?" She suggested. "Or that boy-"

"Caleb." The blonde finished for her, before lowering her gaze.

"Did something happen? Have you fallen out?" Ashley pressed, her hand stroking Hanna's knee as she tried to figure out why her daughter was upset.

"I fell out with Mona." She rolled her eyes, biting down on her lip. "But I don't know what's happened with Caleb," She lied, her eyes collecting water again, before her head dropped to her hands. "I think he hates me."

"Why? What happened?" She knew Hanna was beating herself up for whatever happened and she hated seeing her daughter look so guilty.

"I said stuff and I shouldn't have and now- I don't even know." She sniffled, pulling down her black sleeves to wipe her eyes. It wasn't like she could talk to her mum properly about all this.

"Do you know where he lives? Maybe you should call around and talk to him." Her fingers traced over Hanna's leg soothingly.

"I've never been inside." She shrugged.

"Well who does he live with?"

"Just his foster mom."

"Oh," Ashley pursed her lips and nodded before grabbing Hanna's hand. "You should talk to him Han, I don't think it will be as bad as you think, it never is." She pressed a kiss to her forehead. "He seemed nice."

"He is." A small smile spread across her face as she brought her knees up to her chest. She felt bad for not going to see him all week, but every time she made a move to slip out of the house at midnight she felt sick, her head filling with the image of hurt on his face at the party, the hurt she caused. She couldn't deal with him shouting at her again she couldn't deal with him hating her and anyway, there was a chance he wasn't even in Rosewood anymore.

"If you want I can cancel at the restaurant and we can watch a movie and eat pizza here instead?" Ashley suggested, still not satisfied with leaving Hanna on her own.

"With dad?" She mumbled into her knees, her blue eyes blinking again.

"He's not going to go to a restaurant on his own is he?" The older woman raised an eyebrow as Hanna sank back into her pillows again. "I thought you'd want him more involved now he's back."

"I'll be fine here." She ignored her mothers last sentence. "Go out and have fun." Her tone was sharp.

Ashley sighed again, standing up from the bed and scanning over her daughter. "At least get out of bed and go downstairs, watch tv or something Han." She tried, her fingers running over a brown mark on the hoodie she was tangled up in. "Who's is this?"

"Caleb's." Hanna grunted, swatting her mums hand away from the cigarette burn on the front of it and pulling her duvet up.

"Right." Ashley nodded. "See you later."

* * *

Her mothers words were ringing in her ears and drowning out the twisting feeling in her stomach as she pulled his hood over her head, his scent circling her neck and filling her with warmth.

 _It won't be as bad as you think._

All she could do was hope that her mom was right, that Caleb wasn't going to shout at her again, hurt her, tell her he hated her. The guilt she felt had been riding around on her back all week and had only doubled in weight as she circled her block the third time that night before heading into town.

She was starting to panic now, staring to worry that he had left town and left her without so much as a goodbye. The cold wind blew across her face, pushing the hoodie from her head and reminding her of the night he took her out on his bike, the night he kissed her for the first time and suddenly her feet were moving faster and her hands were clenching inside her pockets with hope, until his body came into view.

He was sat crossed legged on the floor, pressed up against the back wall of the supermarket with his bike at his feet and a constant stream of smoke leaving his lips. "Caleb," She mumbled under her breath, taking small steps until she was right beside him.

He looked up at her with bloodshot eyes as a thin line of red trickled down his forehead from an open gash. "Why are you here?"

"What happened to your head? Did someone hurt you?" She didn't answer his question as she dropped to her knees beside him.

"I fell off my bike." He mumbled, his words slightly slurred as he picked at a hole in the knee of his jeans and she saw another gash seeping blood from under the fabric.

"You're drunk." She muttered, more to herself as she sat back against the wall before she rolled her eyes. "You were riding your bike drunk?"

"And high." He added with a bitter smirk. "Shame there isn't a river nearby."

Hanna swallowed as she watched him rip the hole in his jeans even wider, his eyes haunted with a sad gaze as his long hair covered his face. "You should go home."

"Don't have one." He muttered, tilting his head back against the brick wall as he laughed to himself. "It's probably a good thing or I'd be locked on some psych ward by now."

"What do you mean?" She asked, her hand griping his chin to make him look at her as he cracked another drunken smirk.

"Doesn't matter." He slurred again, reaching into his pocket to pull out another cigarette as she stood up, her arm wrapping around his to pull him up too.

"You need to sleep everything off." She sighed. In some way she was relieved that he seemed too out of it to remember he was mad at her yet, but at the same time his current state scared her. What if she hadn't had found him? What if he'd stayed here all night? Or someone else found him? "Why are you out here anyway? You could get killed."

"You'll kill me." He grumbled as she pulled him to his feet and he coughed on all the smoke in his system.

"What?" Her eyes were wide as she swallowed a lump in her throat. This was it. This is what she'd been so afraid of. Even in his stoned, messed up state he was mad at what she'd done, mad at what she'd ruined between them.

"You were the first person to talk to me here and you made me feel like you cared about me and I fucking fell for it and, and I thought I could stay here and be happy with you," His eyes met her's as he stood up straight, his head spinning although his face remained expressionless. "And then you opened your stupid little mouth and now you come here and look at me like that and make me think that you care about me again."

"I do Caleb," She pursed her lips as his body swayed slightly and she reached over to help him stand properly. "I do care about you."

"See," He sighed, his nose pressing against her cheek as he strained his eyes and leant into her. "If you cared you wouldn't take over my head. I should've left this shitty town by now, but every time I try to all I can think about is you."

A small smile crept onto her face at that before she pressed a delicate kiss to his temple and held his hand tighter. "That is not my fault." She whispered. "You get inside my head too."

He didn't say anything after that, just watched her with his hands tucked in his pockets as she propped his bike up against the wall, knowing she wouldn't be able to manage both it and Caleb on the short walk back to his house.

He stumbled slightly, his shoulders hunched against his ears as he tried to keep the cold out and his eyes started to wander. "Come on." Hanna grabbed his hand again to speed him up.

"Why are you so bossy today?" He mumbled, grinning to himself. "I don't like being told what to do, but you make it hot."

"Shut up." She held in a smile as she pulled him along and fought back a blush.

"Sorry," His brown eyes dropped down to hers. "I didn't mean to make to uncomfortable," He held her gaze for a few seconds before he ruffled her hair and carried on walking ahead. "You're bad at taking compliments even though you're pretty and funny and hot."

She rolled her eyes and took his hand again and his feet tangled together, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip before she cuddled herself into his arm. "Thank you, I guess."

"It's a pleasure." He smirked, leaning some of his weight against her again. "I walked past your house."

"When?" She looked at him inquisitively, she'd been half glued to her window, waiting for him to pass by at night so she could at least know he was still in Rosewood.

"I dunno, last night or something, I don't remember." He shrugged his shoulders. "Your dads car's still there."

"I know," She sighed, so much for Caleb distracting her. "My mom took him back so he's living with us again."

"You don't want him to?" Caleb squeezed her hand and tilted his head at her. Even stoned out his head he could make her open up with one glance.

"I do- I would if I thought he was back for good but, I know he's not." She sighed, fighting back tears that threatened to fall. "He'll leave in a few weeks or months and my mom will be left a mess again and I'll have to help her and I don't want to go through that again."

"Parents are so fucking stupid." Caleb lowered his gaze as he felt the emptiness inside his chest grow. "They're selfish dicks."

Hanna frowned as she watched their feet moving along the sidewalk. "Not all are."

"Most are." He mumbled. "Almost non give their kids what they deserve."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't choose to exist, it's our parents that choose, and even if it's an accident it's still their choice to fuck." He grumbled. "So they should dedicate their sad little lives to their kids, give them everything they need and stop making up excuses for being shit." Hanna bit her lip as she squeezed his hand tighter. "And people should stop judging kids for taking advantage of their parents, we don't get the choice of life so we might as well take as much as we fucking can from it."

She nodded as she thought about what he was saying and the sadness that shadowed over his eyes as he spoke. "Do you miss your parents?"

"I don't remember them. The only time I've ever really wanted my mom was when I got out of juvie and there was no one to take me home, or no one to come visit me when I was inside and just be there whilst I got beat up everyday." He answered, letting go of her hand as they reached his house and Hanna headed down the overgrown path. "I don't like it here."

"There's no where else to go Caleb," She sighed, her hand hesitantly reaching for the door handle before she stuck her head around it to find the building surrounded in darkness. "Where's your foster mom?"

"Probably passed out in bed." He shrugged, pouting as she took his hand again and pulled him through the front door. "She's an alcoholic, only fosters me for money to buy more vodka."

Hanna nodded and carefully followed Caleb through the messy house to the back room. He opened the door and stepped inside first, revealing a scruffy mattress on the floor with a wooden chair he was using to dump his clothes on.

She watched as he shuffled across the floor, kicking off his boots and stripping out of his clothes before he climbed under the thin sheet he had. "Where's the bathroom?" She asked, swallowing a lump in her throat before following his mumble.

It only took a few seconds to grab him a glass of water and wet a face cloth to clean the cuts on his forehead and knee. She knew now why he hated coming home, why he'd rather spend his nights walking around the town and doing everything possible to stay away from this place.

The smell of stale alcohol and dirt and grime clung to everything and it made her chest hurt that it was her words that had driven him to get wasted, and eventually to return back here. The whole town hated him, feared him and her mistake left him with no where to go but back to this place where a grotty mattress and worn-in blanket was his home.

He winced as she wiped all the dirt out of his cut before making him drink the water and climbing in next to him. "You can't stay here." He mumbled, his eyes dropping with tiredness as he shifted closer to her body for warmth. "Go home."

"I'll go when you fall asleep." She whispered back to him, laying her head right next to his and wrapping an arm around his bare chest. Her lips gravitating to his forehead, all the guilt she had inside reflecting out through her caring actions. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising." He rolled his eyes. "And stop blaming yourself."

"I can't." Her thumb ran over his cheek as she wondered whether he'd remember any of this tomorrow. "You have to put up with people calling you a killer and spitting down on you, people you don't even know."

"I can deal with all that." He mumbled against her shoulder.

"Then why do you want to leave?" She sighed, her lip quivering as she thought about not knowing where he was in the world. "Why do you have to hide from everyone?"

"I can deal with all their stupid insult and the sneering but I can't cope with the look in their eyes." His voice wobbled and Hanna held him tighter. "It's like a constant reminder of what I did and I can't cope with it. I'd rather be somewhere where no one knows me and no one cares about me than be reminded every day that I killed my friend by complete strangers that are using my fucked up life as a distraction from their own." A single tear ran down his cheek before Hanna quickly swiped it away, her fingers running through his hair as her own eyes welled with tears. "So I have to go and you have to stay here."

"Okay." She sniffled and watched as his eyes dropped closed. She wasn't going to argue with him right now. "Just tell me when you do go so that you're not here anymore."

A long breath left his lips as she closed her eyes too and they were both submerged in darkness. "I will."

* * *

 **Preview? Let me know what you thought? Xxx**


	12. Chapter 12

12.

* * *

Cold, empty mattresses and falling stars...

* * *

The screaming was the first thing that woke her up.

Then the thrashing.

And then the painful bash to her left eye.

"Caleb!" She had to shout just to be able to hear herself over his screaming, but it worked. His shouts and shaking came to a slow stop as she heard him take a deep breath.

"Caleb?" Her voice was a whisper now as she watched his black shadow rise and fall against the bare walls, his chest was sweaty and his breathing weak and broken as he tried to take back control of himself.

And then his head snapped up and his eyes flickered in the dark, searching for her. He couldn't see her properly but he knew she was there. He could feel her fingertips edging towards his chest and her locks of hair tickling his shoulders until she sat up too and their noses bashed together by accident.

She coward back in pain for a split second before leaning forward and pressing her lips down on to his face as she placed her hand along his chest, trying to find his heart.

It was racing against his chest, thumping so hard against her hand that it sent shivers down her spine. He was terrified.

Her fingers brushed along his shoulders, rubbing his skin gently as she kissed his lips again. She hoped it was enough to calm him down and shake him out of whatever had happened in his head and bring him back. A sense of relief washed over her as she felt his shaking hands wrap around her too and she guided him to lie back against the pillows.

"I told you to go home." His voice was quiet and uneven as he rubbed his face with his hands- just double checking that he had actually woken up. "Are you okay?" He head turned to look at her all of a sudden as the last minute came back to him.

"You're asking me if I'm okay?" She almost scoffed as she shuffled closer to him. He couldn't see her properly because of the dark sky outside his window, just her outline as she lifted an arm to lie on his bare chest. "What happened Caleb?"

"I just had a bad dream." He answered quietly.

"That was more than a bad dream," Her eyebrow raised. "You're not okay Caleb, you need to talk to someone about it." The way he was screaming, his voice so bare and raw and his eyes still shut tight, still dreaming.

"You think I haven't already." He felt his eyes start to well as he bit down on his top lip to try and control it. "They don't get it, they don't understand what it feels like. I wake up and I don't understand how it can feel that bad and not be real."

"What do you dream about?" She asked softly, trying to give him any comfort he'd take, which was non right now.

"Just being under water." He muttered, a single tear leaking down his cheek. "It's different every time."

"And you've had them since the crash?"

He nodded, although she couldn't see him. "It was really bad at the start and in juvie, but when I came here they got better and sometimes I could sleep for a few hours before I had one."

He stopped talking to take another deep breath and Hanna could tell he had more to say, he just wasn't saying it. "Until..?"

"Until I fell in the pool." He finished. He wasn't going to hold back for her own sake if she didn't want him to. "That night on the sofa I didn't close my eyes once because I didn't know how bad it would be and then I came back here and slept and woke up drowning in sweat."

"Does your foster mom not hear you screaming?" Her lips pursed together as she thought about the night at the school. It was her fault he fell in. Her clumsy ass fault.

"Yep." He rolled his eyes. "After the first few times I think she gave up running in here in a panic. Just means she drinks more now so she doesn't wake up."

"What about a doctor or your psychiatrist, what have they said?" She was desperate to help him, to do anything, but it seemed like it was out of her hands.

"She just gave me pills but I can't fall asleep after I've taken them." He sighed again, his eyes leaking a few more droplets of bitter water. "It just messes with my head more when I can't sleep at all."

He was just exhausted. That was his problem. Over-tiredness. It was messing with his head, letting all the dark thoughts and images he had to fight everyday to block out just seep right in and poison his mind. It made him do crazy things, made him say things he didn't mean, made him rely too much on one stupid girl who wouldn't be able to cope with something as big as this as his baggage.

His brain was aching in his skull, his thoughts melting through his head and streaming out his eye sockets as tears, down his cheeks and right onto Hanna as she pulled him as close as possible.

She didn't know what was happening. All she knew was that he needed her to hold onto him as tight as possible whilst his chest heaved, his shoulders shook and his head buried between her and his pillow.

He just wanted everything to stop.

To stop and to stay still so he could get himself together and get the fuck out of this town. He just wanted Hanna to stay there until he had the energy to get himself back to okay or to just squeeze him until his skin turned dark blue.

* * *

The next time Caleb raised his head the sun was starting to rise in the sky and push through the old blinds covering his window.

Hanna was still there, still holding on to him as tightly as he was holding on to her. Her blues eyes were tracing over the patterns on the celling as she lay there deep in thought and he almost didn't want to disturb her from it.

There was nothing she could do, nothing he hadn't already tried to make his nightmares stop, except for drowning himself in alcohol and weed and yet even those had started to become less effective at blocking it out.

He knew all he really needed was time. Time and somewhere that had no links whatsoever to his past. It would be hard and painful but so had his whole childhood and deep down he knew the only thing stopping him was leaving Hanna behind.

A sigh left his lips as he rolled into his back, dragging her concentration from above her to next to her as she shot him a smile. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." He grunted, sitting up against the wall and searching around for his cigarettes. In the dark, it had felt like he could say anything. Those innocent eyes hidden from him so he wouldn't have to see her reaction to everything he had done. But now, as the sun started to get stronger and her face became more visible he instinctively shut down, his thoughts already taking over as the new day came.

Hanna bit her lip, trying not to take his harsh tone to heart as she stood up and pushed the duvet back, revealing her long, bare legs. "You should at least open a window if you're not going outside." She murmured, watching him take a long drag before she pushed back the blind and let a stream of sunlight into the dusty room.

He couldn't help it as his eyes wandered up her bare legs to the sweatshirt she had been wearing the day before. Her skin was so pale and smooth and as she reached forward to push the window open he caught a glimpse of her pale, pink panties.

He was almost ready to place himself behind her, her ass rubbing against him and her head tilting up to kiss him, until she turned around and he felt his heart collapse in his chest.

Her hair was glowing around her face, lit up by the golden sun- although the purple mark around her left eye drained all the goodness away. She stood there, eyes closed taking in the warmth the sun brought, completely unaware of the dark mark on her face. The dark mark he had caused.

He wanted to hate her.

He wanted to hate her for everything she'd done. She was the reason he fell into the pool and his nightmares started all over again, she was the reason everyone in the town knew what he had done, she was reason he couldn't leave the house without random peoples stares turning his nightmares into daymares.

And he had tried to hate her.

He had tried pushing her away, ignoring her, insulting her- he'd even made her cry. Yet she saw through it all, she saw that he was just hurting inside his own heart, that he was messed up, that he didn't know how to label what he was feeling unless he destroyed it and called it his past.

Still she didn't walk away from him. She was out there every night, in the dark looking for him so she could make sure he was safe. Maybe she was just stubborn or maybe she did actually care what happened to him, but either way he'd hurt her now and the only person he hated was himself.

They didn't say much for a while, Caleb slouched against the wall chain smoking, whilst she leant against the window, the sun warming up her back.

She kept looking over at him, his scruffy hair all messy from the tossing and turning and his tanned shoulders pressing into the wall behind him, rising and falling with every deep drag he took. Her lips couldn't help but turn up into a smile as she watched him just being him- grumpy and silent and mysterious, until something caught her eye.

In the twenty minutes they had been like that he didn't make eye contact with her once. She could see him trying, but every time he seemed to give up and settle his eyes on her bare feet, unable to lift them higher than her chin.

"I was wondering," She broke the silence as she stepped forward to kneel back on the edge of his mattress. "Have you seen the girl since the crash? Maybe she's going through the same thing or she could at least help you through your thing."

"Rena." His voice was hoarse as he looked down at the tangled sheets.

"Yeah, have you spoken to her recently?" She asked softly.

He shook his head, a deep, strained sigh leaving his lips. "She wasn't driving."

"She was still in the car Caleb, she still was trapped under water like you were." Her hand reached forward to touch his knee but he only jerked it away. "You should talk to her, I'm sure I can find her online and I can help you set something up, I really think-"

"No." He puffed out some smoke, watching as her mouth opened again. She couldn't see the mark on her skin, she probably didn't even know it was there, but he did and it was killing him that he had done that to her pretty little face.

"Caleb, you can't just sit here and hope that one day your nightmares will just stop, you have to do something, you can't keep living like this."

"No." Her words were ringing in his ears but still he added another layer to his walls and shut her down, stubbing out his cigarette.

She gave up at that, his stubbornness was going to be the death of him. She had tried to help him, tried to make things better for him and he had thrown it all back in her face. "I think I'm just gonna go home." She ran a hand threw her messy hair before she started to pick up her clothes. "My parents are probably worried."

Caleb still didn't say anything, just waited for her to leave as she pulled on her jeans and then her shoes, collecting her things and heading for his door.

"Bye." He finally croaked out, his face emotionless although his chest was tightening and his heart straining, wanting her to stay.

"Bye." She rolled her eyes, not glancing back at him as she left. "Don't do anything stupid without me."

His lips pursed as he pushed his body down further under the duvet, his eyes closing tightly as the cold mattress nipped at his legs and his thoughts began to pour down his face all over again.

* * *

 **Sorry it's been longer than normal, I'm just too fucking busy .**

 **Anyway let me know what you thought? Xxx**


	13. Chapter 13

13.

* * *

The stars awake, but we can't see them out so why pretend?

* * *

"Hanna?" Her mothers voice called the second the blonde clicked the front door shut. "Hanna where the hell have you been?"

She just rolled her eyes at her mothers panicked tone and remained quiet as she headed up the first step.

"Where do you think you're going young lady?" Her fathers voice however made her turn around to face her parents as the morning sun shone through the cracks in the blind.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child." She muttered, her voice tired as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of Caleb's black hoodie and started up the stairs again.

Toms mouth opened in annoyance at what his daughter had said before Ashley stepped in. "Where have you been all night Hanna, we've been worried sick?"

"I was with Caleb." She replied, sitting down on the bottom step, knowing she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. "You told me to go see him."

"Why were you gone all night?" Ashley rubbed her forehead.

"I fell asleep at his." She yawned. "And I didn't have my phone so I couldn't call."

"You spent the night with some boy?" Tom questioned her. "Who is he? How do you know him?"

"He's just Caleb." She shrugged, rubbing her sleep heavy eyes. All she wanted to do was climb into bed and disappear under her duvet for a while. "From school."

"Caleb," Tom frowned, a look on his face as if he recognised the name.

"Come on," Ashley stepped closer and took her daughters arm, leading her into the kitchen to get some breakfast. She hadn't been able to eat all night with the worry of not knowing where Hanna was. "Take your hood down inside Han." She muttered, although her body tensed up again at the sight of her bruised skin. "What happened to your eye?"

Hanna swatted her mothers fingers away and headed to the mirror to investigate, her own fingers dragging along the purple mark. "I don't know."

"Was it the boy?" Tom stepped over to take a look himself. "Did he hurt you Hanna?"

"No," she frowned. "He's not like that, he wouldn't hurt me..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered what jolted her awake in the early hours of the morning. His strong hand lasting out and hitting her face as he tried to escape what was haunting him deep inside his brain. "It was an accident." She whispered, more to herself than her parents as she sucked back in the tears that were forming.

"What was an accident?" Ashley questioned again, placed her palms on Hanna's arms to reassure her.

"Caleb, he- he has really bad nightmares- night terrors even and I fell asleep next to him and he hit me by accident when he was having one." She stammered, it felt wrong to reveal even more of his secrets, but she had no choice or her dad would probably call the cops on him.

"What's wrong with him? Why does he have nightmares?" Mr Marin's judging eyes narrowed as he tried to understand why his daughter spent her time with someone like that.

"Nothing's wrong with him." The blonde fired back defensively. "He's had a shit life that's all, and his brain likes to remind him of every bad part."

"Language Hanna." Her father patronised her again.

She scowled and Ashley had to nudge her shoulder, hoping to cool her down. She knew exactly what Tom was like and exactly how much it riled their daughter up, but still she hated anyone arguing in the very kitchen her marriage fell apart. She wasn't going to let that happen again, even if it meant biting her cheek and hoping Hanna would too.

"Caleb's done nothing wrong." The teenagers voice was strong. "And he didn't do this," Her finger raised to her purple eye. "At least not on purpose."

"Caleb," Toms voice grew again, as if he had completely ignored everything she had just said. "I remember, Karen's son goes to Rosewood high too, he said there's a kid called Caleb that was in juvie because he killed two people last year. Some of the parents want him out of the school." He turned to look at Hanna. "He's isn't safe to be around, your face is prime example of that."

"What?" Her jaw fell open as she felt her mothers grasp leave her completely, although deep down she wasn't surprised by how twisted the rumours had become. "That's not true, that's not what happened."

"Oh and I supposed you know all about it do you?" Tom snorted.

"Yes." She frowned, looking him straight in the eye. "I... He told me." She trailed off, glancing at her feet. She was the first person he told. She was the reason everyone knew, or at least knew their version. "It was a car crash and he was driving but it wasn't his fault and only one of his friends died, but it wasn't Caleb's fault."

"And he told you that did he?" Tom frowned. "He's been to juvie Hanna, he's capable of twisting a story to look innocent."

"No, he's not like that." She raised her voice, trying to defend Caleb. God her dad was such a dickhead.

"Why are you such a dick?" Her mouth had opened and the words tumbled out before she could stop them. She wasn't about to take them back though, not even as he stood right in front of her, his teeth clenching and his face turning red.

"What did you say?"

"I asked you why are you such an inconsiderate dick that has no sympathy for anyone other than yourself and more importantly no time to listen to your daughter." She had no idea where this new found confidence was coming from but she was about to use it all up and spit out everything that had been bubbling up inside her for the last few months all at once before she was locked in her room until she was thirty. "You just listen when you want to listen and pay attention to us when it suits you, not when we actually need you. You're so selfish and so fucking oblivious to it."

"Like when Hanna?" He all but spat back in her face. "I go to work every day to pay for a house over you head and food in your stomach, so please do tell me in what ways I don't care."

"You don't care about us, about our lives. It's like as long as we're breathing and not hungry everything's okay, but it's not." Hot angry tears were gathering but she was doing everything she could to hold them back. She wasn't even upset, she was just so angry that her body had to get it all out in every way possible. "I wouldn't care if we lived in a shed if you actually took interest in me and what I like and, and..." She trailed off as she glanced at her mum. She was just stood there, waiting for the shouting to be over so she too could go back to pretending everything was okay.

A silence descended on the kitchen, the only noise coming from Tom tapping his foot as he waited for Hanna to carry one until Ashley broke out of her still trance.

"Who's Karen?"

There was more silence, the red head just stood there blankly waiting for a response that she already had the answer to whilst her cheating, lying husband took a deep, fidgety breath, quickly trying to escape the mess he had scattered around himself.

Hanna took a step back, her eyes welling with more angry tears at the thought of it all starting again. All the arguing and screaming and then the deadly silences whenever she walked into the room. All the pretending and the fake smiles and her mothers exhaustion with it all that meant she just spent her evening on her own in her lonely bedroom mindlessly passing the time until it was late enough that she could fall asleep.

Her point about her dad had been silently proven but she didn't even care anymore. She just wanted to crawl up into her black hoodie and hide there until the cycle was over. The constant fighting would eventually get too much for her mum to bare and she'd throw her dad out and then the quiet would follow, the empty stares and numbness to everything around her would over take until one day she'd wake up and she'd be over it and she'd feel better, she'd feel something, and he'd be right back knocking on the door again and the cycle would continue.

"Hanna-" Ashley's broken voice began as she kept her eyes directly on Tom.

"I know," She sighed, pursing her lips as she turned around and headed for the stairs, her problems suddenly seeming so unimportant. "I'm going."

* * *

It rained for the rest of the day, the droplets only stopping their falling as the grey sky turned orange and then black.

Hanna had sat and watched it from her bedroom, dozing off every few hours to catch up on sleep and only leaving her room to grab a sandwich for dinner. She didn't see her mom when she was in the kitchen, although she could hear her sniffles escaping from the living room sofa and echoing around the quiet house. But now it was dark outside and her stomach was rumbling again and she knew if she didn't cook dinner, then they'd both be starving all night.

The pasta bubbled in front of her as she stared down at it, her head resting in her hand until a quiet knocking drew her attention to the the front door.

She moved quickly through the house, tugging the sleeves of her hoodie down over her hands as she opened the door and swallowed a lump in her throat when she found Caleb stood on her door step, shaggy hair hanging around his face and two backpacks at his feet.

"Hi."

"Um hi?" She frowned. She hadn't expected to see him so soon after she left him this morning, planning on leaving him to his own stubborn thoughts for a while until he realised she was right and he needed help.

"Can we talk?" He bit his lip as he tilted his head to the side slightly in question.

She nodded, closing the door behind her and sliding down to sit on her porch step. He joined her, their knees touching as he picked at the ripped material of his jeans. "Your dads cars gone."

"Yeah," She raised an eyebrow and carried on staring at the ground. "My mum kicked him out again."

"Why?"

"He's been cheating on her again." She sighed, resting her chin in her palm.

"Shit," Caleb mumbled, looking across at her, the purple mark around her eyes making his chest tighten before he had to look away.

"What did you want to talk about?" Her tone was sharp as she let out a huff, not wanting to go into the dark details about her life right now. "Have you changed your mind about Rena?"

"No Hanna." He sighed, shaking his head as he pursed his lips. "I'm leaving."

"What?" Her head whipped right up to meet his gaze as a frown embedded its self on to her face. "When?"

"Tonight."

"Where are you gonna go?" She frowned even harder. She hadn't expected him to leave, not tonight anyway.

"I don't know," Caleb shrugged. "There's a bus to Philly in an hour and then I guess I'll figure it out from there."

Tears started to fill her blue eyes for a second time that day. "But why?" Her voice was tiny and cracked.

"You know why Han," He muttered, breaking eye contact to look down at his feet. "I can't stay here anymore."

"Why Caleb?" She raised her voice slightly, turning to face him as their knees interlocked and her hand came to rest on his thigh. "What about your nightmares? I can help you with them, I was going to help you.." Her voice trailed off as she racked every excuse in her brain to make him stay.

"I'll be okay."

"No you won't," She griped his thigh harder, almost clinging on to him already.

"Yes I will Hanna." Their eyes locked again and she knew he was right. He'd done it all before so why couldn't he do it again?

"But you can't just keep starting over Caleb, you can't leave everything behind again." She tried to reason with him as his warm palm slid over her's on his jeans.

"It's nothing new to me Han, I've been doing this my life." A long sigh left his lips and he stared right into her pretty eyes. Those gorgeous blue eyes that in years to come would make him smile when he thought of Rosewood and the pretty little blonde girl he left behind there.

She tried to pull away, tried to drag her gaze away from his but she was drowning, suffocating, loosing herself in his sorry brown eyes. They were so deep and velvety, like a chocolate blanket that wrapped around her and made her feel warm and wanted. And even as he told her he was leaving her behind she felt the pull of them, drawing her in until her forehead was pressed against his.

He smiled, a smile that didn't know whether to be happy or sad, as he soothed his fingers over her cold hand again and pressed his warm lips against hers.

She kissed him back so desperate and needy that he had to pull his fingertips away from hers and place them on her cheek instead, taking back control as he pressed a firm kiss against her mouth instead. A kiss that told her everything would be okay, he would be okay and he'd never forget her.

And then he pulled back way too quickly for her liking. "Bye Hanna."

"Bye." She whispered, her hands reaching out to wrap around his neck one last time as she held his body close to her's and breathed in his scent.

She knew he'd be okay. He was Caleb- he'd practically grown up on the streets looking after himself and getting on with life with his head down and buried in a computer. He would build a new life for himself somewhere new, probably find another lonely soul wandering around the streets at night and fall in love with her instead.

He'd be okay.

She kept repeating it to herself as he pulled away and grabbed his bags from the floor before sending her one last sad smile over his shoulder and disappearing down the path, into the night.

But she didn't know if she'd be okay too.

* * *

 **Should I finish it here? I kinda want to. Let me know?**


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